Cross-sectional volumetric analysis of brain atrophy in alcohol dependence: effects of drinking history and comorbid substance use disorder

OBJECTIVE: The authors assessed whether individual differences in drinking history as well as lifetime incidence of comorbid cocaine or marijuana use disorder underlie differential patterns of brain atrophy in subjects with alcohol dependence. METHOD: Segmented magnetic resonance images were used to compare whole brain cerebral gray matter and white matter in 134 male subjects age 30-50 with alcohol dependence, either alone or with comorbid cocaine or marijuana use disorder. RESULTS: Across all subjects, drinking history variables correlated negatively with both gray matter and white matter after age was controlled. Alcohol-dependent subjects with no comorbid substance use disorder (N=51) showed a steeper negative correlation between age and the gray matter/white matter ratio than did alcohol-dependent subjects with a comorbid lifetime cocaine use disorder diagnosis (N=50). Alcohol-dependent subjects with comorbid cocaine use disorder tended to have a steeper negative correlation between age and white matter (adjusted for intracranial volume) than did alcohol-dependent subjects with no comorbid substance use disorder. After age and the greater estimated cumulative alcohol consumption of alcohol-dependent subjects with comorbid cocaine use disorder were controlled in a multiple regression analysis, however, comorbid cocaine use disorder did not account for any independent variance in any volumetric measure. CONCLUSIONS: Brain atrophy among subjects with alcohol dependence reflects individual differences in exposure to alcohol, and the data provide mixed evidence that comorbid cocaine use disorder may exacerbate white matter atrophy in alcoholism.