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Sunday, September 28, 2008

Combined Neuroimaging, Neurocognitive and Psychiatric Factors to Predict Alcohol Consumption Following Treatment for Alcohol Dependence
Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access published online on September 24, 2008


Resumption of hazardous drinking after treatment is common in alcohol use disorders (AUD). This study examined the ability of multimodality magnetic resonance, neurocognitive, psychiatric and demographic, to predict alcohol consumption after treatment for AUD.

The following variables were independent predictors of resumption of drinking: temporal GM NAA, frontal WM NAA, frontal GM Cho, processing speed and comorbid unipolar mood disorder. With each standard deviation unit decrease in temporal GM NAA, frontal WM NAA, frontal GM Cho and processing speed, the odds of resumption of drinking were increased 3.1, 3.3, 6.4 and 14.2 times, respectively. Diagnosis of a unipolar mood disorder was associated with 14.5-fold increased odds of resumed drinking.

The findings suggest that Resumers, relative to Abstainers, demonstrated greater bnormalities in anterior frontal-subcortical circuits involved in mood and behavioral regulation, and development and maintenance of alcohol use disorders. The magnetic resonance-derived variables used in this study may provide additional information regarding the prediction and neurobiological correlates of resumption of hazardous drinking.

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