Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment (May 2023)
Spontaneous Changes in Attentional Capabilities and Reasoning After an Alcohol Rehabilitation Treatment: Evidence About the Role of Age and Alcohol Use
Abstract
Elena Fiabane,1 Federica Scarpina,2,3 Marcella Ottonello,4 Caterina Pistarini5 1Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri IRCCS, Psychology Unit of Pavia Institute, Pavia, Italy; 2Rita Levi Montalcini” Department of Neurosciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy; 3Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, U.O. di Neurologia e Neuroriabilitazione, Ospedale S. Giuseppe, Piancavallo, VCO, Italy; 4Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri IRCCS, Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine of Pavia Institute, Pavia, Italy; 5Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri IRCCS, Department of Neurorehabilitation of Pavia Institute, Pavia, ItalyCorrespondence: Marcella Ottonello, ICS Maugeri Spa SB, via Missolungi 14, Genova, 16167, Italy, Tel +0039 01030791251, Email [email protected]: In this study, we evaluated changes in attentional capabilities and reasoning among early abstinent alcohol-dependent individuals after a 28-day residential rehabilitation program (not including cognitive treatment). Furthermore, we explored the role of individual characteristics and disease-related factors (i.e., length of alcohol use, history of polysubstance dependence, severity of alcohol use) on spontaneous cognitive recovery.Patients and Methods: Fifty-five patients with a diagnosis of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) were consecutively recruited from a residential rehabilitation hospital in Northern Italy. The majority were male (67.3%) with a mean age of 47.83 years (SD = 8.21). The computerized Psychology Experiment Building Language Test Battery was used to assess the performance at the Posner Cueing Test, Go/no-go Task, Trail Making Test (TMT), Tower of London (TOL), and Balloon Analog Risk Scale. The evaluation was performed twice: at the beginning (T0) and at its end (T1, before the hospital discharge).Results: We observed statistically improvements over time in the performance at the: 1) TOL in the time amount required to solve the task (p < 0.001); and 2) TMT in the indexes relative to the number of errors (p = 0.003) and the total time required to solve the task (p < 0.001). Age played a significant role on the changes observed in the score relative to the time amount used by participants to solve the task in TMT (test (p = 0.03) and in TOL (p = 0.02). Moreover, the length of alcohol dependence had an effect on the change observed for the time amount to solve the TMT (time) (p = 0.01).Conclusion: We found spontaneous recovery after alcohol detoxification on some, but not all, cognitive functions assessed in our study. The neuropsychological assessment and the identification of patients with cognitive impairment and specific risk factors (e.g., older age and longer history of alcohol use) is important to orient cognitive rehabilitation and increase the efficacy of AUD treatments.Keywords: neuropsychological functioning, Alcohol Use Disorder, alcohol detoxification, rehabilitation, risk factors, AUD
