OBJECTIVE: The relationship between drinking relapse and family history for alcoholism to cognitive functioning was investigated in alcoholics who completed a 28-day inpatient treatment program. METHOD: The current study examined 144 primary alcoholics who completed a battery of cognitive tests on admission to treatment and at a 3-4 month follow-up visit. Participants were classified as either family history positive (FH+) (n = 86) or family history negative (FH-) (n = 58) based on information on alcohol dependence in first degree relatives. The subjects were further classified as drinkers (n = 56) or abstainers (n = 88) at follow-up, based upon information gathered about their drinking practices during the interval. RESULTS: There were no differences between the groups based on family history status at admission to treatment. Comparisons made at follow-up revealed that the abstainers' (both FH+ and FH-) performance improved. The FH+ drinkers' performance was worse than that of both the FH- drinkers and the FH+ abstainers at follow-up. The poor performance of the FH+ drinkers relative to the FH- drinkers was not attributable to differences in drinking consumption during the test-retest interval. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that alcoholics who maintain abstinence following treatment show improvement on cognitive testing at follow-up; both FH+ and FH- abstainers showed improvement, indicating that a positive family history of alcoholism does not impede recovery that occurs with abstinence. The most important finding, however, is that the FH+ drinkers show greater deterioration at follow-up compared to the other groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
OBJECTIVE: The relationship between drinking relapse and family history for alcoholism to cognitive functioning was investigated in alcoholics who completed a 28-day inpatient treatment program. METHOD: The current study examined 144 primary alcoholics who completed a battery of cognitive tests on admission to treatment and at a 3-4 month follow-up visit. Participants were classified as either family history positive (FH+) (n = 86) or family history negative (FH-) (n = 58) based on information on alcohol dependence in first degree relatives. The subjects were further classified as drinkers (n = 56) or abstainers (n = 88) at follow-up, based upon information gathered about their drinking practices during the interval. RESULTS: There were no differences between the groups based on family history status at admission to treatment. Comparisons made at follow-up revealed that the abstainers' (both FH+ and FH-) performance improved. The FH+ drinkers' performance was worse than that of both the FH- drinkers and the FH+ abstainers at follow-up. The poor performance of the FH+ drinkers relative to the FH- drinkers was not attributable to differences in drinking consumption during the test-retest interval. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that alcoholics who maintain abstinence following treatment show improvement on cognitive testing at follow-up; both FH+ and FH- abstainers showed improvement, indicating that a positive family history of alcoholism does not impede recovery that occurs with abstinence. The most important finding, however, is that the FH+ drinkers show greater deterioration at follow-up compared to the other groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Authors: Marsha E Bates; Gerald T Voelbel; Jennifer F Buckman; Erich W Labouvie; Danielle Barry Journal: Alcohol Clin Exp Res Date: 2005-03 Impact factor: 3.455
Authors: Adam J Woods; Eric C Porges; Vaughn E Bryant; Talia Seider; Assawin Gongvatana; Christopher W Kahler; Suzanne de la Monte; Peter M Monti; Ronald A Cohen Journal: Alcohol Clin Exp Res Date: 2016-09-22 Impact factor: 3.455
Authors: Ronald A Cohen; Joseph M Gullett; Eric C Porges; Adam J Woods; Damon G Lamb; Vaughn E Bryant; Mikayla McAdams; Karen Tashima; Robert Cook; Kendall Bryant; Mollie Monnig; Christopher W Kahler; Peter M Monti Journal: Alcohol Clin Exp Res Date: 2018-12-16 Impact factor: 3.455