Neurocognitive performance in alcohol use disorder using the NIH toolbox: Role of severity and sex differences

• Published in: Drug and alcohol dependence 2020-11, Vol.216, p.108269-108269, Article 108269
• Main Authors: Meredith, Lindsay R., Lim, Aaron C., Ray, Lara A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Alcohol; Alcohol Drinking - epidemiology; Alcohol Drinking - psychology; Alcohol related disorders; Alcohol use; Alcohol use disorder; Alcoholic beverages; Alcoholism; Alcoholism - diagnosis; Alcoholism - epidemiology; Alcoholism - psychology; Alcohols; Attention; Attention - physiology; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognition - physiology; Drinking behavior; Drug addiction; Episodic memory; Female; Females; Gender aspects; Gender differences; Health services utilization; Help seeking behavior; Humans; Individual differences; Inhibition; Inhibition, Psychological; Inpatient care; Male; Males; Memory, Short-Term - physiology; Men; Mens health; Mental Status and Dementia Tests - standards; Middle Aged; National Institutes of Health (U.S.) - standards; Neurocognition; Outpatient treatment; Phenotyping; Severity; Severity of Illness Index; Sex; Sex Characteristics; Sex differences; Short term memory; Surveys and Questionnaires; Treatment-seeking; United States - epidemiology; Womens health; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0376-8716; 1879-0046
• DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108269

•Individuals with heavy vs. light drinking were compared on NIH Toolbox cognition tests•Outpatient sample with alcohol use disorder (AUD) did not display neurocognitive deficits•Within the AUD group, females performed higher than males on processing speed•For males, AUD severity predicted worse attention and inhibition capabilities Sustained heavy alcohol consumption is associated with a range of neurocognitive deficits. Yet, past research centers on a severe profile of alcohol use disorder (AUD), with persons recruited from in-patient settings. The current project aims to compare neurocognitive performance between individuals seeking AUD outpatient treatment with healthy comparisons while considering the association between performance, disorder severity, and sex. Enrollment included two matched groups (N = 125; 34 % female): 77 treatment-seeking individuals with AUD; 48 healthy comparison individuals with low drinking patterns. Neurocognitive performance on NIH Toolbox subtests measuring attention, inhibition, episodic memory, working memory, language, and processing speed were compared across groups. Within the AUD group, analyses examined the relationship between performance, disorder severity, recent alcohol consumption, and sex. AUD group did not perform significantly lower than healthy comparisons on neurocognition subtests assessed. Within AUD group, females displayed significantly higher processing speeds than males (p = .007). Disorder severity and alcohol consumption were not significantly related to performance. However, a significant interaction between disorder severity and sex emerged (p = .010), with higher severity associated with poorer performance in males but not females, on a subtest measuring attention and inhibition. Effect of heavy alcohol use on neurocognitive performance was not detected in this outpatient AUD sample. Weaknesses in domains of attention and inhibition may be correlated with AUD severity among males, but not females. Further research on AUD severity and sex in understanding individual differences in neurocognition is warranted, particularly using novel tools for large scale phenotyping, such as the NIH Toolbox.