Objectives: To demonstrate consistent and significant findings of neurocognitive functioning in detoxified alcoholics have been inconclusive. The purpose of this study was to evaluate cognitive functions in detoxified alcoholics and the relationship between neuropsychological test scores and alcohol consumption patterns.
Methods: Twenty-four alcoholics, aging between 30 and 50 years, at least 4 weeks after the beginning of detoxification and 24 normal controls equated for age and education were exmained on Seoul computerized neurocognitive function tests in order to evaluate neurocognitive functions, which include attention, memory function, executive function, motor performance.
Results: Compared to controls, alcoholics were more impaired on both finger tapping test (FTT, right: p<0.05, left: p0.01), but there were no significant differences between two groups on any measures including attention, memory function, and executive function. Even though there were significantly negative associations between length of drinking history and performances on FTT with both hands (right: r=-0.55, p0.01; left: r=-0.48, p0.05) in alcohol group, multiple regression analyses showed that age and STAI contributed significantly to the prediction of FTT, ameliorating the dignostic effect.
Conclusion: There was no evidence of significant declines in attention, memory, and executive functions in alcoholics compared to normal controls, except impaired motor performance functions which may be related to concurrent anxiety.
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