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KMID : 0870520000040010011
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Journal of Korean Academy of Addiction Psychiatry
2000 Volume.4 No. 1 p.11 ~ p.23
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Correlation between Serum Cholesterol Level and Impulsivity -Aggressiveness in Patients with Alcohol Dependence
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Cheon Young-Hoon
Rho Seung-Ho
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Abstract
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Objective：The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between impulsivity-aggressiveness and serum cholesterol level in patients with alcohol dependence.
Method： The authors examined fifty-nine male patients with alcohol dependence who had been admitted to Wonkwang Neuropsychiatric Hospital between April, 1999 and October, 1999 except who had apparent other major psychiatric disorders, personality disorders, cognitive impairment, or severe physical disorders (e.g., liver cirrhosis, hereditary lipid metabolic disorders, pancreatitis) which need intense medical care. The patients were divided into two groups according to the Irwin’s criteria and assigned to Type Ⅰ and Type Ⅱ. And also the patients were divided into three groups by the level of serum cholesterol, in order to compare the characteristics between lower group (lower 1/3 of serum cholesterol level in total group) and higher group (upper 1/3 of serum cholesterol in total group). We examined serum cholesterol level at 2 weeks after the admission. Alcoholism Screening Test (AST-F；rated by patient’s family, AST-P；rated by patient), Impulsivity scale (Imp-F；rated by patient’s family, Imp-P；rated by patient), Brief Anger-aggression Questionnaire (BAQ), and Overt Aggression Scale (OAS) were used to measure the patient’s impulsivity and aggressiveness.
Results：Serum cholesterol level and scores for impulsivity-aggressiveness were compared between subgroups. 1) Type Ⅱ showed significantly higher score on AST-F than Type I (p<.01), but there’s no significant difference on AST-P. AST-F score was significantly higher than ASP-P score in Type Ⅱ (p<.01), but there’s no significant differences in Type Ⅰ. 2) Type Ⅱ showed significantly higher score on Imp, BAQ and OAS (p<.05, p<.01, p<.01), as well as significantly lower serum cholesterol level (p<.01) than Type Ⅰ. 3) The lower-cholesterol group showed significantly higher score on Imp (p<.01) and BAQ (p<.01) than higher-cholesterol group. Fog OAS, lower-cholesterol group showed clear tendency tohave higher score than highercholesterol group but failed to reach statistical significance.
Conclusion：The results suggest that there are significant relationship between low serum cholesterol level and impulsivity in patients with alcohol dependence. This finding suggest that serum cholesterol level may be available as a biological marker of impulsivity in patients with alcohol dependence. But more systematized studies should be needed supporting the correlation between serum cholesterol level and impulsivity in patients with alcohol dependence.
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KEYWORD
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Alcohol dependence, Serum cholesterol, Implusivity·aggressiveness
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