Neuropsychological differences between male familial and nonfamilial alcoholics and nonalcoholics.
The hypothesis was tested that neuropsychological differences exist between males who have an alcoholic parent, sister, or brother (FH+) versus those who do not (FH-). Neuropsychological tests measuring verbal, learning/memory, abstracting/problem solving, and perceptual-motor performance were given to four groups of middle-aged subjects: alcoholic FH+ (n = 41); alcoholic FH- (n = 27); nonalcoholic FH+ (n = 19); and nonalcoholic FH- (n = 43). FH+ subjects performed significantly poorer than FH- subjects on the abstracting/problem solving and perceptual-motor tasks, and approached significance on the verbal and learning/memory measures. Alcoholics performed more poorly than nonalcoholics on abstracting/problem solving and learning/memory tasks. There were no groups by family history significant interactions. From these results we suggest: a performance deficit in abstracting/problem solving and possibly learning/memory may antedate the alcoholic stage in FH+ individuals; alcoholism and positive family history of alcoholism have independent, additive deleterious effects on cognitive-perceptual functioning; and future neuropsychological studies of alcoholism should consider the frequency of FH+ and FH- individuals in both alcoholic and control groups.
D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000235:genetics*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D003210:Concept Formation / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000187:drug effects; D008875:Middle Aged; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000187:drug effects; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000235:genetics*