Attentional bias during inpatient alcohol withdrawal is associated with the severity of dependence and the duration of abstinence

Einleitung: Chronic heavy alcohol intake impairs the mesolimbic dopamine system and cognitive functions such as the control over inhibition of attentional and psychomotor responses to specific alcohol-related visual stimuli. With regard to attention allocation this loss of control is referred to as attentional bias and can be assessed e.g. by means of a visual-dot-probe task. Theoretical models of addiction suggest a positive association between the attentional bias and craving for alcohol. However, there has been little research into the impact of the cessation of prolonged alcohol consumption and alcohol withdrawal and craving on this cognitive phenomenon. Thus, it was the aim of this study to investigate our hypothesis which comprised the expectation that the magnitude of the alcohol-related attentional bias is influenced by the severity of dependence, craving, and the duration of abstinence.

Methode: 86 alcoholic inpatients were included and an alcohol-visual-dot-probe task was administered on days 1 and 14 of inpatient detoxification treatment.

Diskussion/Ergebnisse: Our results did not indicate attentional bias towards alcohol-related cues during day 1. Attentional bias increased over the course of withdrawal between day 1 and day 14, confirming our working hypothesis. Moreover, following two weeks of abstinence, we found there to be an attentional bias towards alcohol-associated stimuli that only marginally failed to reach statistical significance at day 14 for the entire sample, but was significant for the subgroup of patients with severe alcohol dependence, as indicated by alcohol dependence scale scores, the number of previous inpatient detoxifications, and the need for medication to treat symptoms of the alcohol-withdrawal syndrome

Schlussfolgerung: The present data demonstrate that the attentional bias torwads alcohol-associated cues is significantly affected by several factors among these the time ob abstinence, the severity of dependence and the magnitude of craving.