Citation

De Bellis MD, Morey RA, Nooner KB, Woolley DP, Haswell CC, Hooper SR. Child Maltreat. 2019; ePub(ePub): 1077559518810525.

Affiliation

Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1077559518810525

PMID

30935216

Abstract

Neurocognitive and brain structural differences are associated with adolescent onset alcohol use disorders (AUDs). Maltreatment histories may contribute to current results. To examine these issues, healthy adolescents ( n = 31), adolescents without maltreatment and AUD (AUD - MAL, n = 28), and adolescents with AUDs with maltreatment (AUD + MAL, n = 17) underwent comprehensive neurocognitive assessments and MRI structural scans. Controls performed significantly better than the two AUD groups in math and language. The AUD + MAL group performed significantly lower in sustained attention compared to the AUD - MAL and control groups and lower in reading compared to controls. The AUD + MAL group had larger left pars triangularis, a region of the inferior frontal gyrus, compared to AUD + MAL and control groups, and smaller anterior corpus callosum volumes versus the AUD - MAL group. There were no group differences in other prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, and parahippocampal volumes. The AUD + MAL group showed an inverse correlation between hippocampal volumes and age. AUD variables were associated with lower performance in fine-motor and executive function. Cannabis use variables were associated with lower performance in fine-motor, language, visual-spatial, memory, and executive function. Parahippocampal volumes positively correlated with abstinence. The preliminary results suggest adolescent AUD studies should consider examinations of maltreatment history, comorbid substance use disorders, and recovery during abstinence in their analyses.

Language: en

Keywords

adolescence; alcohol use disorders (AUDs); corpus callosum; magnetic resonance imaging; maltreatment; neuropsychology