Alcohol addiction is associated with high psychiatric comorbidity. Objective stratification of patients is necessary to optimize care and improve prognosis. The present study is designed to gain insights into this challenge by addressing the following objectives: a) to estimate the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in a sample of outpatients seeking treatment for alcohol use disorder, b) to describe the existence of gender differences and c) to validate 2-acyl-glycerols as biomarkers of alcohol use disorder and/or psychiatric comorbidity. One hundred and sixty-two patients were recruited and evaluated with the semi-structured interview PRISM. The presence of psychopathology was associated with a greater number of criteria for alcohol abuse and dependence according to DSM-IV-TR. We found gender differences in psychiatric comorbidity, e.g., mood disorder, as well as in comorbid substance use disorders. The prevalence of lifetime psychiatric comorbidity was 68.5%, with mood disorders the most frequent (37%), followed by attention deficit disorder (24.7%) and anxiety disorders (17.9%). Substance-induced disorders were more frequent in mood and psychotic disorders, whereas the primary disorders were more prevalent in patients with comorbid anxiety disorders. We found that 2-acyl-glycerols were significantly decreased in comorbid anxiety disorders in alcohol dependent patients in the last year, which makes them a potential biomarker for this psychopathological condition.

Aims: Granulocyte colony–stimulating factor (G-CSF) has raised much interest due to its role to cocaine addiction in preclinical models. We analyzed the circulating expression of G-CSF in abstinent chronic users of alcohol and/or cocaine with or without comorbid major depressive disorders to investigate the role of this trophic factor with complicated substance use disorders.Methods: We recruited 176 patients and 136 controls. Patients were divided in 50 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 126 abstinent substance use disorders (SUD) patients undergoing treatments for alcohol (N=66) or cocaine (N=60) addiction according to DSM-IV-TR criteria. A blood sample was collected to examine plasma concentrations of G-CSF.Results: The plasma concentrations of G-CSF were significantly decreased in the cocaine group compared with the SUD control group. There was a sex dimorphism in the alcohol group, with lower G-CSF concentrations in women compared with men. Plasma concentrations of G-CSF were associated with abstinence and with the length of alcohol problems. The decrease in G-CSF was associated with comorbid MDD, a finding specific for SUD patients since there were no alterations of G-CSF primary settings MDD outpatients.Conclusions: Circulating G-CSF is reduced in SUD patients, being associated to comorbid MDD. A sex-dependent effect was observed in female AUD. Plasma G-CSF concentrations might be used as a predictor of length of chronic alcohol use and as a stratification role in the dual diagnosis in SUD. Further investigation is needed to explore the role of G-CSF as potential biomarker of pathogenic/prognosis in SUD population.

Descripción de los objetivos Los trastornos por uso de alcohol (TUA) alteran el desarrollo cerebral afectando a las funciones ejecutivas, a los procesos estratégicos de recuerdo y a las capacidades visoespaciales. Estas alteraciones constituyen factores predictivos de deterioro de la memoria. El objetivo consiste en examinar el funcionamiento de la memoria episódica y visual en pacientes con TUA según la gravedad de los criterios diagnósticos. Material y métodos Se llevó a cabo una evaluación psicopatológica de 35 pacientes con TUA en abstinencia utilizando criterios DSM-5 y para la evaluación neuropsicológica se aplicaron el Test de Aprendizaje Verbal España-Complutense (TAVEC), la Figura Compleja de Rey y el Trail Making test (TMT). Se seleccionaron pacientes con criterios diagnósticos leve/moderado (n=17) y se compararon con aquellos con criterios diagnósticos grave (n=18). Las diferencias sociodemográficas y clínicas se determinaron mediante Chi-cuadrado (χ²) y t de Student (t-test). El análisis de las pruebas neuropsicológicas se llevó a cabo mediante ANCOVAS univariantes controlando la variable edad. Resultado y conclusiones El 86% de la muestra eran hombres con una media de 43 años y con estudios secundarios (46%) sin diferencias sociodemográficas ni clínicas entre los dos grupos de TUA. Encontramos diferencias significativas en la ejecución de la memoria episódica a corto plazo (p=0,003) y a largo plazo (p=0,029) pero no en el recuerdo inmediato. También existen diferencias significativas en las estrategias seriales del recuerdo inmediato (p=0,008) y en la interferencia proactiva (p=0,013), con menor ejecución en el grupo TUA con mayor gravedad de criterios diagnósticos. No encontramos diferencias entre los dos grupos en memoria visual. La gravedad de los TUA se relaciona con la afectación de la memoria episódica. Existiría una relación entre un procesamiento superficial poco efectivo de la información que dificulta la entrada de nueva información a la memoria a largo plazo y los TUA.