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

This article focuses on the recovery of alcohol-related neuropsychological impairments in patients with severe alcohol use disorder (AUD) during early abstinence. Using the Brief Evaluation of Alcohol-Related Neuropsychological Impairment (BEARNI) test, 32 patients with pure severe AUD—excluding confounding factors such as benzodiazepine use, other substance use, psychiatric or neurological comorbidities, and cirrhosis—were assessed approximately 8 and 18 days after alcohol cessation. Results showed that about 63% of patients with initial cognitive deficits demonstrated recovery within 18 days, particularly in verbal fluency, memory, working memory, and visuospatial abilities. The study highlights that earlier onset of alcohol consumption and higher AUD severity (measured by AUDIT scores) were associated with less cognitive recovery, suggesting that neuropsychological impairments improve rapidly in a majority of patients during early abstinence but may persist in some domains for others.