Drinking pattern as a determinant of alcoholics' performance on the trail making test.

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Abstract
The effects of drinking patterns (daily vs. bout) and duration of problem drinking (1-9, 10-19 or 20 yr or more) on Trail Making Test (TMT) performance were examined in a sample of 120 men and 66 women who were voluntary admissions to a halfway house for Skid Row alcoholics. There were no sex differences in the men and women''s educational levels, verbal IQ or number of self-reported physical consequences of drinking, but the men were significantly older (mean, 42 vs. 39, P < 0.05), had been problem drinkers significantly longer (14 vs. 10 yr, P < 0.001) and were more likely than the women to be bout drinkers (37 vs. 23%). Men and women subjects matched on age, duration of problem drinking, verbal intelligence and consumption of other drugs did not differ significantly in YMT performance. With age as a covariate, 2 .times. 3 analyses of variance (2 levels of drinking pattern and 3 of duration of problem drinking) showed main effects of age (P = 0.001) on parts A and B of the test and main effects of drinking pattern of parts A (P < 0.001) and B (P < 0.008). Years of problem drinking had a weak effect (P < 0.05) on part A. Younger drinkers and bout drinkers performed significantly better than did older drinkers and daily drinkers, supporting the hypothesis that bout drinkers experience less neuropsychological deficit than do daily drinkers. That drinking pattern was a better predictor of TMT performance than was duration of problem drinking suggests a need for further research on drinking pattern.

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