Rapid recovery from cognitive deficits in abstinent alcoholics: A controlled test-retest study

The pattern of cognitive deficits and their time-dependent recovery were in vestigated in a cohort of 49 male alcohol-dependent patients using a repeat ed measurement design with 49 healthy male controls matched for age, educat ion, and marital status. We combined parts of the Halstead Reitan Battery a nd the Wechsler Memory Scale with tests that are widely used in German-spea king countries. Patients were tested in the first week (T1) and 5 weeks lat er (T2) at the end of the in-patient treatment programme. Matched controls were tested also at T1 and T2, which enabled us to take learning effects in to account. At T1, the patients showed distinct cognitive deficits on 5 of 12 neuropsychological parameters (perceptual-motor speed, verbal short-term memory, Verbal knowledge, non-verbal reasoning, spatial imagination). At T 2, significant improvements had occurred in four of the five dysfunctional domains with a significant difference remaining in verbal short-term memory . Duration of dependency and length of abstinence prior to testing had no e ssential effects on neuropsychological functions. Our results provide evide nce for the well-established fact that chronic alcoholism has detrimental e ffects on cognitive performance, but that performance improves with neurops ychological recovery which occurs rapidly within week:; when abstinence is maintained. Cognitive deficits seem to be similar across different studies and cultures.