Cognitive deficits, mood disorders and neurological signs in alcoholicsSeventeenth Meeting of the
European Neurological Society
Dementia/Higher function disorders
Wednesday, June 20, 2007, 08:30 - 10:00M. Sieminski, A. Nitka-Sieminska, A. Jaszczuk, P. Bialon, W.M. Nyka (Gdansk, PL)Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of cognitive impairment, mood disorders and neurological signs in population of chronic alcoholics. We also wanted to analyze relation between those disorders and duration of addiction.
Materials and methods: We have examined 27 subjects with diagnosed alcoholism. The following tools were used: Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) for screening for cognitive impairment, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-A and HADS-D, respectively). All subjects were examined neurologically to evaluate presence of lesions of central nervous system.
Results: The mean age of the examined group was 47,5 years. The mean duration of addiction was 20.2 years. The mean result of MMSE was 28 points. In 4 cases (14,8%) we have found score in MMSE < 27, suggestive of cognitive impairment. This subgroup did not differ significantly from the rest of the population, as the age and duration of addiction are concerned. There were 7 (25,9%) subjects with definitive and 5 (18,5%) with probable anxiety disorder (according to HADS-A) and 2 (7,4%) subjects with definitive and 2 (7,4%) with probable depression disorder (according to HADS-D). No sigs of focal neurological deficits were found.
Conclusions: Chronic alcoholism should be considered as a risk factor of cognitive impairment in relatively young subjects. Cognitive decline is not associated with signs of focal brain lesions. Anxiety disorders were more common in the examined population than depression.
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