The effects of gender and a co-occurring depressive disorder on neurocognitive functioning in patients with alcohol dependence

Aims: The present study aims to examine neuropsychological impairments by comorbidity and gender among patients with alcohol dependence. Methods: The study sample is comprised of 123 subjects who fulfilled a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th Edition (DSM-IV) diagnosis of alcohol dependence from January 2006 to December 2007. Subjects were asked to complete the following psychological tests: the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS), Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Wechsler Memory Scale and Color Trails Test. We compared the results of neuropsychological assessments based on two types of classifications: people with comorbid depression and people without comorbidity; females and males. Results: The immediate visual memory and the BIS scores in patients with comorbid depression were significantly different from the scores in patients without comorbidity. In addition, females performed significantly poorer on the Working Memory Index than males and had a later age of regular drinking. Conclusions: Further investigation of the mechanism associated with the gender difference on cognition and exploration of the temporal relationship between alcohol dependence and depressive disorder on the cognitive aspect is needed.