Cognitive deficit in middle-aged alcoholics.
Two groups of male alcoholics with mean ages of 44 and 55 and two groups of matched control subjects were tested twice, one year apart. Comparisons on verbal and adaptive ability factors derived from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale and selected Halstead--Reitan neuropsychological tests found no differences on verbal abilities. Significant improvement for the younger alcoholics on retesting indicates that previous comparisons of the neuropsychological effect of aging and alcoholism may not have sufficiently taken into account the reversibility of an alcoholic deficit. For the age range studied here, it may be only older alcoholics who appear different from control subjects.
D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011581:Psychological Tests