Decision-making and impulsivity in patients with alcohol dependence syndrome with comorbid attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Objective: The purpose of the study was to examine decision-making and impulsivity in patients with alcohol dependence with or without comorbid attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) compared to controls. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 28 patients with alcohol dependence syndrome (ADS) only, 30 with ADS with ADHD, and 28 healthy controls were recruited. All the participants were evaluated on Iowa Gambling Task, Balloon Analogue Risk Task, and Barrett Impulsivity Scale to assess decision-making, risk-taking, and impulsivity respectively. Results: Repeated measure ANOVA indicated that both ADS only and ADS with ADHD groups had poorer decision-making as compared to healthy controls, with small effect sizes. One-way ANOVA showed a significant difference in the maladaptive risk-taking across ADS only, ADS with ADHD and healthy control groups. Similarly, there were significant differences in attention impulsivity and motor impulsivity between the groups. No relationship was found between decision-making and impulsivity. Conclusions: Alcohol dependent patients had impaired decision-making and impulsivity irrespective of comorbid ADHD. Thus, risk-taking and decision-making may be cognitive markers of alcohol dependence syndrome itself.