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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1377039
This article is part of the Research Topic Alcohol-Related Brain Injury: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Rehabilitation View all 3 articles

Cognitive Impairment Among Alcohol Treatment Service Users in South Wales: An exploratory examination of typologies of behaviour, impairment, and service attendance

Provisionally accepted
Nyle Hawk Davies Nyle Hawk Davies 1Julia C. Lewis Julia C. Lewis 1,2Bev John Bev John 1Darren Quelch Darren Quelch 1Gareth Roderique-Davies Gareth Roderique-Davies 1*
  • 1 University of South Wales, Treforest, United Kingdom
  • 2 Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, Newport, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Alcohol dependence is a global issue with many negative consequences, including alcoholrelated brain damage (ARBD). Assessment of the sociodemographic and cognitive characteristics of individuals with confirmed or suspected ARBD presenting to alcohol services warrants further investigation. This study retrospectively examined rates of cognitive impairment using Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) data from 300 adults who visited three alcohol support services. We demonstrate that 55.3% of the sample had significant levels of cognitive impairment. Females' cognitive performance was disproportionately negatively affected by historical alcohol use relative to males. The analysis identified four categories of participants, and the majority had a long history (+10 years) of alcohol use and were still actively drinking. Those taking part in active treatment for ARBD or practising abstinence demonstrated lower levels of cognitive impairment. Additionally, prior access to specialised ARBD care was associated with higher MoCA scores. This research has identified a range of key service engagement, sociodemographic and cognitive characteristics that could be used to optimise support for those with alcohol dependence, whilst also highlighting some critical questions to be addressed in future research.

    Keywords: Alcohol Related Brain Damage1, ARBD2, Alcohol Dependence3, addiction4, cognitive impairment5, Cluster Analysis6. (Min.5-Max. 8

    Received: 26 Jan 2024; Accepted: 05 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Davies, Lewis, John, Quelch and Roderique-Davies. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Gareth Roderique-Davies, University of South Wales, Treforest, United Kingdom

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