title: Isokinetic muscle strength and its association with neuropsychological capacity in cirrhotic alcoholics.
abstract: Alcoholic cirrhotics (n = 49), nonalcoholic cirrhotics (n = 42), and normal controls (n = 50) were compared on measures of isokinetic muscle strength and neuropsychological capacity. Alcoholic cirrhotics were deficient on measures of eccentric and concentric muscle movements, compared with normal controls but were not different from nonalcoholic cirrhotics. Nor were differences observed between the two cirrhotic groups on neuropsychological tests of cognitive and psychomotor capacity, suggesting that cirrhosis rather than alcoholism per se is responsible for the manifest deficits. Psychomotor capacity correlated negatively with isokinetic strength in cirrhotic subjects. These findings suggest that muscle weakness, due either directly to advanced liver disease or mediated by subclinical hepatic encephalopathy, accounts for a portion of the variance on the neuropsychological test performance of cirrhotic alcoholics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Pennsylvania 15213, USA.
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Tarter
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Panzak
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Switala
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Simkevitz
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Van Thiel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000295:instrumentation; D005260:Female; D006501:Hepatic Encephalopathy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007537:Isometric Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008104:Liver Cirrhosis, Alcoholic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology