Electrophysiological Detection of Asymptomatic Neuropathy in Alcohol Dependence Syndrome Patients- A Cross Sectional Observational Study

Aim: To detect the prevalence of asymptomatic neuropathy using nerve conduction study among alcohol dependence syndrome patients and to investigate the existence or not of correlation between duration, quantity of alcohol consumption and neuropathy.

Study Design: Observational cross-sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of General Medicine and Department of Psychiatry, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Pondicherry, affiliated to Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be) University, India between February 2019 and August 2020.

Methods: Alcohol dependence syndrome patients, asymptomatic for neuropathy were prospectively included and, patients who were symptomatic and had other comorbid conditions that can cause neuropathy were excluded. Patients were then submitted to nerve conduction studies. In patients who had neuropathy, duration and quantity of alcohol consumption were compared for correlation.

Results: This study included 65 male patients who were mostly middle aged heavy drinkers of alcohol. 73.8% (n=48) had neuropathy. Our research showed longer the duration, larger the quantity of alcohol consumption, and higher the Cut-Annoyed-Guilty-Eye (CAGE score), more were the prevalence of neuropathy. This research also used Severity Of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (SAD-Q) scoring for screening alcohol dependence which showed patients with neuropathy were moderate drinkers. We did not find correlation with age of patients and neuropathy.

Conclusion: This research results like correlation of prevalence of neuropathy and duration of alcohol consumption and quantity of alcohol consumption were in contrast with previous studies on alcoholic neuropathy. This research used SAD-Q scoring for dependence, future researches can throw light on usage of SAD-Q score in asymptomatic neuropathy and the correlation of neuropathy with alcohol consumption.