Neuropsychological Assessment of Cognitive Function in Chronic Alcohol-dependent Patients and Patients with Alzheimer's Disease

Background: Heavy and chronic alcohol dependence and Alzheimer's disease may share some neuropsychological characteristics. Patients and Methods: The pattern of neuropsychological characteristics of 33 alcohol- dependent patients who reported memory disturbances were evaluated and compared to the neuropsychological performance of 38 patients with mild-stage Alzheimer's disease and 73 healthy subjects, serving as controls. Alcohol-dependent patients were examined with tools concerning the pattern of alcohol abuse and problems related to alcohol consumption. All groups completed a full battery of neuropsychological tests for the assessment of cognitive functions, such as different kinds of memory, attention, executive function etc. Results: Alcohol-dependent patients fared worse compared to the control subjects in every test used. The comparison of alcohol- dependent patients versus patients with Alzheimer's disease showed that the latter are much more burdened, as far as cognition is concerned, in all aspects of memory. Conclusion: Alcohol-dependent patients, even if they are not demented, have mild cognitive impairment in all domains of cognition (memory and frontal functions) in comparison with controls which performed within the norms. Verbal fluency, working memory and frontal functions were impaired at the same degree in alcohol-dependent patients and in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Memory problems were more pronounced in Alzheimer's disease patients. Heavy and chronic alcohol dependence may lead to various psychiatric symptoms (1) and cognitive deficits (2) of varying degrees of severity. Many neuropsychological and psychometric studies have evaluated these deficits. The interpretation of their results is often difficult due to the variability of the evaluated symptoms and the different methods used. Alzheimer's disease is a syndrome characterized by deficits in several cognitive domains, particularly in memory (3). Despite the heterogeneity of neuropsychological deficits in Alzheimer's disease patients, memory impairment is the predominant characteristic, followed by aphasic and apraxic symptoms. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the pattern of neuropsychological characteristics of alcohol-dependent patients who report memory disturbances, to compare this pattern with the neuropsychological performance of patients with mild Alzheimer's disease and evaluate the existence of a possible distinct neuropsychological pattern that could differentiate early-stage Alzheimer's disease from alcohol- related dementia.