Development of alcohol dependence and cognitive functioning impairments in women of Tuvan and Russian ethnicity

Background. Female alcoholism development features, cognitive impairments, cooccurring with alcohol dependence, have varying degrees of severity in different ethno-cultural conditions, in particular for the Tuvan and Russian ethnic groups. The study of these differences in female alcoholism has not still been conducted.

Objective: To study alcohol dependence development features and cognitive impairments in women of Tuvan and Russian ethnicity.

Material and Methods. The study sample included two groups of women suffering from alcoholism. Group 1 included 78 women of Tuvan ethnicity (mean age 41.6 ± 9.9 years) who were treated at the State Budgetary Institution of Health “Republican Narcological Dispensary” of the Republic of Tyva. Group 2 included 66 women of Russian ethnicity (mean age 41.6 ± 9.0 years) who were treated at the Addictive States Department of Mental Health Research Institute of Tomsk NRMC. Clinical-psychopathological, psychological, mathematical-statistical methods were used.

Results. In women of Tuvan ethnicity, the formation of alcohol dependence (from the first signs to the development of a withdrawal syndrome) occurs progressively; alcoholic psychosis develops later (after 14-15 years of alcohol dependence). In 16.7% of Tuvan women, psychosis tended to recur frequently. When experiencing the alcoholic psychosis, a severe typical stereotypy in pictograms is associated. Excessive typical stereotypy was found in pictograms in 50% of Tuvan patients and 30.4% of Russian patients without a history of alcoholic psychosis; in subgroups of patients who experienced alcoholic psychosis, this feature was found in 72.41% of Tuvan and in 66% of Russian women.

Conclusion. The revealed clinical and psychopathological symptoms indicate the malignant (progressive) development of alcohol dependence in women of Tuvan ethnicity. In their cognitive functioning, they exhibit uniformity in associative connections, a decrease in the accessible level of generalization and the volume of working memory, while memory productivity does not reveal differences associated with ethnicity.

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