Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33523497›Full record

ArticleAlcoholism, clinical and experimental research2021

Do Social Cognition Deficits Recover with Abstinence in Alcohol-Dependent Patients?

Claudia I Rupp, David Junker, Georg Kemmler, Barbara Mangweth-Matzek, Birgit Derntl

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
1.7field-weighted citation impact, top 17% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. The Dopamine System in Mediating Alcohol Effects in Humans.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Claudia I RuppDivision of Psychiatry I, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.ORCID 0000-0002-2268-7515
David JunkerDivision of Psychiatry I, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
Georg KemmlerDivision of Psychiatry I, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
Barbara Mangweth-MatzekDivision of Psychiatry II, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
Birgit DerntlDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Innsbruck Medical University · ATUniversity of Tübingen · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDespite growing evidence of the presence and clinical relevance of deficits in social cognition in individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD), less is known about the potential of "natural" recovery with abstinence in this neurocognitive domain. This study investigated the abstinence-based recovery of neurocognitive social abilities in alcohol-dependent patients (ADP) using a prospective longitudinal design with follow-up assessment under controlled conditions of abstinence during alcohol dependence inpatient treatment.

methodsSeventy-seven participants (42 ADP and 35 healthy controls [HC]) performed social cognition testing, including facial emotion recognition, perspective taking, and affective responsiveness twice (baseline/T1 and follow-up/T2) during comparable follow-up periods. Assessment of social cognition in abstinent ADP was conducted at the beginning (T1; within the first 2 weeks) and at the end (T2; within the last 2 weeks) of long-term (2 months) abstinence-oriented alcohol dependence inpatient treatment. Only patients abstinent for >14 days (last heavy drinking day >21 days) at baseline (T1) and who remained abstinent at follow-up (T2) were included.

resultsADP, who on average were nearly 2 months abstinent at T1, showed poorer social cognition in all 3 areas (emotion recognition, perspective taking, and affective responsiveness) than HC. There was no difference between groups on the change in performance over time, and group differences (ADP vs. HC) remained significant at T2, indicating persistent social cognition deficits in ADP following controlled abstinence during inpatient treatment.

conclusionsOur findings indicate no natural recovery of social cognition impairments in ADP during an intermediate to long-term period of abstinence (2+ months), the usual active treatment phase. Research aimed at developing interventions that focus on the improvement of social cognition deficits (e.g., social cognition training) and determining whether they benefit short- and long-term clinical outcomes in AUD seems warranted.

Indexed as

Social CognitionAdultAgedAlcohol AbstinenceAlcoholismCognitive DysfunctionFacial RecognitionFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleMiddle AgedNeuropsychological TestsPhotic StimulationProspective StudiesAlcohol Use DisorderCognitive FunctionEmotion RecognitionRecoverySocial Cognition

Identifiers

PMID33523497
PMCPMC7986754
OpenAlexW3127629488

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.