Performance of recently detoxified patients with alcoholism on a neuropsychological screening test.
OBJECTIVE
Early in recovery from alcoholism, cognitive deficits may compromise patients' utilization of rehabilitative information. Cognitive impairment in a sample of newly detoxified inpatients with alcoholism was examined using the Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination (NCSE).


METHODS
Consecutively admitted psychiatric inpatients (N=233) with an alcohol-related primary diagnosis (63% male, mean age 46.3) were administered the NCSE following medical stabilization. Within-samples differences between age and diagnostic groups were examined and scores were compared to normative samples.


RESULTS
Inpatients older than 50 demonstrated significant cognitive deficits for all scales except Attention. In comparison with normative samples, patients with alcoholism produced lower scores, with the most pronounced deficits among middle-aged patients. In alcohol-abusing patients with medical comorbidities, language deficits and more severe memory deficits were observed. Abuse severity or comorbid psychiatric disorder produced no differences in NCSE scores.


CONCLUSIONS
Neuropsychological screening following detoxification in patients diagnosed with an alcohol disorder reflected the effects of increased age and medical comorbidity. Our finding of frequent deficits in abstraction, comprehension, and memory suggests that cognitive-behavioral treatments for inpatients may be less effective if cognitive impairment is not considered.
Zinn
Sandra
S
Health Services Research and Development, Building 16, Room 55, Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center (152), 508 Fulton Street, Durham, NC 27705, USA. zinn0001@mc.duke.edu
Bosworth
Hayden B
HB
Edwards
Christopher L
CL
Logue
Patrick E
PE
Swartzwelder
H Scott
HS
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards*