effects of illness severity and alcohol use on cognition in end stage liver disease after controlling for general intelligence and mood——cognition in end stage liver disease疾病严重程度和饮酒对认知的影响在结束阶段肝脏疾病在控制了一般智力和情绪-认知在结束阶段肝脏疾病.pdfVIP

International Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2012, 3, 125-131 125 / 10.4236/ijcm.2012.32025 Published Online March 2012 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ijcm) Effects of Illness Severity and Alcohol Use on Cognition in End Stage Liver Disease after Controlling for General Intelligence and Mood ——Cognition in End Stage Liver Disease 1* 1 2 3 Robert P. Hart , Douglas P. Gibson , Melanie K. Bean , Robert A. Fisher 1Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, USA; 2Departments of Pediatrics and Psychology, Vir- ginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, USA; 3Department of Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, USA. * Email: rhart@ Received December 4th, 2011; revised January 26th, 2012; accepted February 9th, 2012 ABSTRACT Background: While neuropsychological deficits are common in patients with end stage liver disease (ESLD) evaluated for transplantation, the determinant factors are not clear. Methods: Towards that end, we examined data from 108 pa- tients who completed neuropsychological tests as part of their liver transplantation evaluation. First, controlling for es- timated premorbid ability and mood, multiple regression analyses were used to examine the effects of illness severity on cognition. Second, we compared neuropsychological functioning of patients with vs. without a history of excessive al- cohol use, independent of primary liver disease diagnosis. Results: Severity of illness was associated with the extent of psychomotor slowing. Excessive alcohol use was associated with lower scores on tests of memory. Furthermore, worse memory was not explained by lower estimated premorbid ability, lower concurrently measured general intelligence, or greater illness severity. Conclusions: Our findings illustrate the import