Alcoholism is on the rise in the world. There is also a rise of alcohol abuse among women. Research conducted on the effect of alcoholism among women says that in women cognitive problems develop faster in than in men.
Women drinkers are subject to physical changes in the brain more rapidly than men.According to Barbara Flannery, a senior scientist at the research institute RTI at the university in Baltimore “Alcoholism related cognition problems affect drinker’s’ ‘visual working, memory spatial planning, problem solving and cognitive flexibility.” Drinkers have problems affecting the social life to; they have trouble conducting themselves in social circumstances too.
This was the conclusion that was the result of a study conducted in Russia on a number of male and female alcohol drinkers. The test revealed that the non drinkers fared better in a series of computerized tasks. The test evaluated the ability to match patterns in shape, remember location of stimuli and name colors when compared with contradictory information. And here it was the women drinkers who fared the worst.
Alcohol dependence (AD) is more common among partners of alcoholics Than among partners of non-alcoholics. A new examination of spousal Similarity for alcohol consumption and AD risk reveals that while one Type of association, assortative mating, results in an increased Frequency of AD in partners, another type, spousal interaction, may Diminish AD risk for spouses Both Julia D. Grant, research assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine.
And Michael Vanyukov, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences, psychiatry and human genetics at the University of Pittsburgh noted that assortative mating is likely to Result in an increased proportion of offspring who will be exposed to The genetic liability of two alcoholic parents. "The offspring will Have a greater chance to inherit such genes than in the case of random Or non-assortative mating," said Vanyukov, "and on the population Level, this would lead to an increased frequency of genotypes Associated with extreme phenotypes, such as those related to an Increased risk for alcoholism.
There is a need for gender-sensitive public awareness campaign that highlights these cognitive deficits.
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Source-Medindia
BIN/M
