[Impairment of executive functions in patients with alcohol use disorders]. / Narushenie ispolnitel'nykh funktsii u bol'nykh alkogol'noi zavisimost'yu.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To study the features of executive functions in patients with alcohol use disorders and comorbid exogenous organic brain damage of non-alcoholic nature. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Sixty-five men, aged 24 to 55 years, with alcohol use disorders were examined. Thirty mentally healthy men were examined as a control group. To assess executive functioning, standard neuropsychological tests were used the Go/No-Go task, the Corsi test and the Stroop Color Test. RESULTS: Patients with alcohol use disorders and comorbid exogenous organic brain damage made significantly more errors in the Go/No-Go task (skipping the Go signal p=0.004) and performed the Stroop Color test longer (task completion time p=0.003). According to multivariate regression analysis, the presence of exogenous organic brain damage predicted the worst indicators of psychomotor reaction (p=0.009) and cognitive flexibility (p=0.021). CONCLUSION: Comorbid exogenous organic brain damage in patients with alcohol use disorders leads to a significant deterioration of executive functions, including psychomotor reaction and cognitive flexibility, compared with patients suffering only from alcohol use disorders.