Differences in Cognitive Impairment Between VA and Community Treatment Center Alcoholics

Recent results suggest that (a) alcoholics from community treatment programs are not as impaired on neuropsychological tests as alcoholics from a Veterans Administration (VA) treatment program and (b) family history may play a role in test performance. Forty-two VA treatment program alcoholics, 38 peer community treatment program alcoholics, and 37 peer controls were given a battery of neuropsychological tests. The groups differed significantly on an overall performance score: VA alcoholics performed the worst, community alcoholics were intermediate, and controls were best. VA Ss performed poorer than community alcoholics on Verbal, Visuospatial, and Concept Formation factors. Community alcoholics performed more poorly than community controls on Verbal Memory and Concept Formation. There were no significant main effects and only one interaction effect of the family history variables. Results suggest limitations on generalizations concerning severity of neuropsychological impairment based on VA samples.