Early Improvement of Neuropsychological Impairments During Detoxification in Patients with Alcohol Use Disorder.

International audienceAIMS: To assess recovery of alcohol-related neuropsychological deficits in a group of patients with pure severe alcohol use disorder (AUD) during a detoxification program using the Brief Evaluation of Alcohol-Related Neuropsychological Impairment (BEARNI) test. METHODS: Thirty-two patients with severe AUD using DSM-IV criteria (24 men, mean age\,=\,45.5\,±\,6.8~years old) were assessed using the BEARNI 8\,±\,2~days after alcohol cessation (T1) and then were reassessed within 18\,±\,2~days after alcohol cessation (T2). The primary study endpoint was the number of patients initially impaired at T1 who recovered cognitive functions at T2 assessment. RESULTS: At T1, 59% (n\,=\,19) patients with pure severe AUD had at least one impaired cognitive function assessed by the BEARNI. At T2, 63% of the patients with AUD with deficits at T1 had normal BEARNI cognitive scores (χ2\,=\,7.7, P\,=\,0.005); specifically, the percentages of participants with normal subtest scores were 63% on memory (χ2\,=\,12.4, P\,=\,0.0004), 100% on verbal fluency (χ2\,=\,16; P\,=\,