Influence of premorbid risk factors on neuropsychological performance in alcoholics.

This report provides new evidence that neuromedical risk factors influence levels of behavioral impairment in alcoholics. Using a factorial model, the effects of age, neuromedical risk history, and duration of sobriety were studied in relation to neuropsychological performance. The data showed a consistent interaction between duration of abstinence and risk status: Recently detoxified alcoholics (sober 1 month) with a positive premorbid risk history had worse neuropsychological performance than did those without such historical risk events. By contrast, long-term abstinent alcoholics (sober 4 years) did not demonstrate the interaction between alcohol history and positive premorbid risk history. The present results are held to mean that neuromedical risk factors may exert a differential influence on test scores of recently detoxified men, suggesting a source of variance in neurobehavioral studies of alcoholism requiring attention by investigators.