Predictive Capacity of Cloninger's temperament and character inventory (TCI-R) in alcohol use disorder outcomes. / Capacidad de predicción del inventario de temperamento y carácter de Cloninger (TCI-R) en la evolución de los trastornos por uso de alcohol.

OBJECTIVE: to investigate the ability to predict the outcome of alcohol use disorders through Cloninger's temperament and character inventory (TCI-R). METHODS: this is a prospective study consisting of 237 outpatients with alcohol use disorders who underwent follow-up treatment for 6 months and whose personality traits were studied using TCI-R. At the end of that period, the scores of each TCI-R trait were analyzed in terms of those who remained in treatment and those who dropped out. RESULTS: The whole group scored highly in novelty seeking (NS) and harm avoidance (HA) and produced low scores in self-directedness (SD), these last traits are considered prominent. The drop-out group scored significantly (p=.004) higher in novelty seeking (NS) than the follow-up group. Also, when the score was higher than the 67 percentile the likelihood of abandoning the treatment was 1.07 times higher. CONCLUSIONS: Cloninger's temperament and character inventory is a good instrument to predict the outcome of treatment of patients with alcohol use disorders and the novelty seeking (NS) dimension is strongly related to therapeutic drop-out.

Objetivo: se pretende investigar la capacidad de predicción del inventario de temperamento y carácter de Cloninger (TCI-R) en la evolución de los trastornos por uso de alcohol. Metodología: Es un estudio longitudinal de 237 pacientes con trastornos por uso de alcohol, en tratamiento ambulatorio y seguimiento durante seis meses, cuya personalidad fue estudiada mediante el inventario TCI-R. Se analizó la puntuación de cada una de las dimensiones del inventario TCI-R en función de su situación (retención o abandono) al final del estudio. Resultados: La muestra presentaba puntuaciones  elevadas en búsqueda de novedad (BN) y evitación del daño (ED) y baja en autodirección (AD), definidas, estas últimas, como prominentes. El grupo que abandonó presentaba una puntuación significativamente (p= .004) más elevada en búsqueda de novedad (BN) que el grupo en seguimiento; además cuando la puntuación era superior al percentil 67 la probabilidad de abandonar era 1,07 veces superior. Conclusiones: El inventario de temperamento y carácter de Cloninger (TCI-R) es un buen instrumento para predecir la evolución de los pacientes con trastorno por uso de alcohol y la dimensión búsqueda de novedad (BN) está fuertemente relacionada con el abandono terapéutico.

[Gender differences in alcoholism]. / Diferencias de género en la enfermedad alcohólica.

Recent epidemiological studies indicate that alcohol consumption in women has increased in the last few years, which suggests that alcoholism in women will also increase in the near future. Moreover, this disease shows differential characteristics in women, and knowledge of these characteristics is important so that treatment can begin as early as possible. The objective of the present study was to explore clinical differences in alcohol use disorders according to patients' gender. It was carried out with a sample of 370 patients, 325 men (87.8%) and 45 women (12.2%), with mean ages of 42.83 and 44.6 years, respectively. The patients were assessed through the Europasi interview and analytical studies with liver enzyme profiles and blood tests. The most notable results were: women began alcohol consumption significantly later than men (19.61 and 16.9 years, respectively; p < 0.008); they were significantly older than men when the consumption pattern became problematic (30.93 and 24.68 years, respectively; p < 0.003); they had been drinking for fewer years (13.26 versus 17.85 years; p < 0.02); and they drank fewer grams of alcohol (117.7 and 133.8 g., respectively; n.s.). Women scored significantly higher than men on the Europasi psychiatric scale (2.91 and 1.97, respectively; p < 0.007) and men had more legal problems than women (1.2 and 1.0, respectively; p < 0.000). In the biological tests the GGT enzyme values were higher in men (137.51) than in women (96.7), but this difference was not significant, and the VCM value was significantly higher for women (98.1) than for men (95.05). Another important finding was that the percentage of women who had sought private professional help was higher than that of men (15% versus 4.6%; p < 0.01).