title: EEG abnormalities in chronic alcoholism related to age.
abstract: EEG was studied in 50 chronic alcoholics (age 45 +/- 10 years). All EEGs were classified visually. In addition, a manual analysis from a fronto-central (F3-C3 of F4-C4) lead and a temporo-occipital (T5-O1 or T6-O2) lead was done in 42 cases to obtain the mean frequency of the 6-12 Hz band. The visual classification correlated well with the frequency analysis in the anterior (rs = -0.57, P less than 0.001) and in the posterior (rs = 0.61, P less than 0.001) leads and there was a high positive correlation between the frontal and occipital lead (r = 0.88, P less than 0.001). Half of the records were abnormal. There was a significantly higher proportion of abnormal EEGs in the youngest and oldest patient groups compared with the remainder. EEG-abnormality was significantly related to early start of abuse (before 25 years, P less than 0.05). The findings suggest that alcohol abuse in the teens or early twenties is accompanied by a considerably greater risk of brain damage than alcoholism beginning after 25. However, an alternative explanation, i.e. that the EEG abnormality may represent cerebral dysfunction predisposing to alcoholism is not excluded.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000187:drug effects; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D000431:Ethanol / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol