Brain injury heightens alcohol abuse

NT Online News

Brain-injured patients are more prone to alcohol abuse, according to new research.

The study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, also found that previous alcohol abuse appears to increase the risk of mood disorder after such injury and emotional disturbance raises the risk of alcohol abuse relapse.

The prospective study of 158 patients with closed head injuries, 104 of whom completed 12 months of follow-up, found that 8% had an alcohol use disorder in the year prior to their injury.

Sixty percent of these resumed alcohol abuse after traumatic brain injury.

Mood disorder developed more often in those with a history of alcohol abuse (60% versus 36.9%) and 75% of those who abused alcohol after their injury developed a mood disorder compared with 44% of patients who did not abuse alcohol.

‘Those patients that have a history of alcohol abuse may have characteristics such as brain pathology that predispose them to develop mood disturbance after brain injury, while brain injury itself will favor the relapse in alcohol misuse,’ say the authors.

Reference: Jorge R et al (2005) Alcohol Misuse and Mood Disorders Following Traumatic Brain Injury Arch Gen Psychiatry 62 (7) 742-749.

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