Older alcoholics: profile of decline.
Administered to 235 chronic alcoholics in an inpatient setting a standard psychological test battery 2 weeks after admission. Two analyses were calculated: A correlational analysis between age and the test variables and a comparison analysis between a younger (less than 50) and an older group. Results suggest that visual-spatial and constructional tasks, newer learning tasks, and secondary memory (and memory delay) show a more pronounced decline than do verbal or "left hemisphere" tasks. A sub-analysis of 30 younger and 30 older psychiatric patients further revealed that alcohol asserts a significant influence on decline in complex abstract tasks and on visual-spatial tasks (age is also a significant factor on visual-spatial tasks). This study re-validated previous findings using a more chronic alcohol population with standard psychological tests in a clinical setting.
D000367:Age Factors; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003210:Concept Formation; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D014796:Visual Perception