Effect of alcohol use disorder family history on cognitive function.

Psychol Med

Centre for Psychiatry Research, Karolinska Institutet & Stockholm Health Care Services, Stockholm County Council, Stockholm, Sweden.

Published: March 2022

Background: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is associated with cognitive deficits but little is known to what degree this is caused by genetically influenced traits, i.e. endophenotypes, present before the onset of the disorder. The aim of the current study was to investigate to what degree family history (FH) of AUD is associated with cognitive functions.

Methods: Case-control cross-sectional study at an outpatient addiction research clinic. Treatment-seeking AUD patients (n = 106) were compared to healthy controls (HC; n = 90), matched for age and sex. The HC group was further subdivided into AUD FH positive (FH+; n = 47) or negative (FH-; n = 39) based on the Family Tree Questionnaire. Participants underwent psychiatric and substance use assessments, completed the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale and performed a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests assessing response inhibition, decision making, attention, working memory, and emotional recognition.

Results: Compared to HC, AUD patients exhibited elevated self-rated impulsivity (p < 0.001; d = 0.62), as well as significantly poorer response inhibition (p = 0.001; d = 0.51), attention (p = 0.021; d = 0.38) and information gathering in decision making (p = 0.073; d = 0.34). Similar to AUD patients, FH+ individuals exhibited elevated self-rated impulsivity (p = 0.096; d = 0.46), and in addition significantly worse future planning capacity (p < 0.001; d = 0.76) and prolonged emotional recognition response time (p = 0.010; d = 0.60) compared to FH-, while no other significant differences were found between FH+ and FH-.

Conclusions: Elevated impulsivity, poor performance in future planning and emotional processing speed may be potential cognitive endophenotypes in AUD. These cognitive domains represent putative targets for prevention strategies and treatment of AUD.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S003329172000238XDOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

aud patients
12
alcohol disorder
8
family history
8
aud
8
aud associated
8
associated cognitive
8
response inhibition
8
decision making
8
exhibited elevated
8
elevated self-rated
8

Similar Publications

Background: Patients with substance use disorder (SUD) are frequently hospitalized and readmitted. Hospitalization is an opportunity for treatment initiation, including medications for alcohol (MAUD) and opioid use disorder (MOUD). Addiction consult teams are one model for increasing hospital-based SUD treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Multidimensional Personality Changes Following Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy in Patients With Alcohol Use Disorder: Results From a Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial.

Am J Psychiatry

January 2025

Department of Psychiatry, NYU Langone Center for Psychedelic Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York (Pagni, Zeifman, Mennenga, Carrithers, Goldway, O'Donnell, Ross, Bogenschutz); School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe (Mennenga); Department of Psychology, New York University, New York (Goldway); Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque (Bhatt).

Article Synopsis
  • The study explored how psilocybin-assisted therapy (PAT) impacts personality traits in people with alcohol use disorder (AUD), hypothesizing it would reduce trait impulsiveness and improve drinking behavior.
  • Eighty-four AUD patients were divided into two groups (psilocybin vs. placebo) and assessed for changes in personality traits over time, finding significant personality shifts in the psilocybin group, including reduced neuroticism and increased openness.
  • The results indicated that lower impulsiveness correlated with decreased alcohol consumption, particularly among those who drank at risk before treatment, pointing to potential benefits of PAT in addressing both personality and drinking behaviors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Anxiety disorders are common in alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment patients. Such co-occurring conditions ("comorbidity") have negative prognostic implications for AUD treatment outcomes, yet they commonly go unaddressed in standard AUD care. Over a decade ago, we developed and validated a cognitive behavioral therapy intervention to supplement standard AUD care that, when delivered by trained therapists, improves outcomes in comorbid patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The aim of this study is to develop a method we call "cost mining" to unravel cost variation and identify cost drivers by modelling integrated patient pathways from primary care to the palliative care setting. This approach fills an urgent need to quantify financial strains on healthcare systems, particularly for colorectal cancer, which is the most expensive cancer in Australia, and the second most expensive cancer globally.

Methods: We developed and published a customized algorithm that dynamically estimates and visualizes the mean, minimum, and total costs of care at the patient level, by aggregating activity-based healthcare system costs (e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!