Changes in Alcohol-Related Behavior Following an Incident of Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

Pre-existing alcohol related complications are a common occurrence amongst individuals admitted for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and is estimated to be about 44% to 66% in TBI patients. In fact, alcohol intoxication is a major cause of TBI. The contribution of alcohol abuse as a cause of TBI and its influence over the pathophysiology of TBI is well studied and well known. However, the influence of TBI on alcohol consumption is still in its preliminary stages. The underlying reasons for it may be the complex interaction between the pathological changes induced by TBI itself and changes in environmental factors following an episode of TBI. The resulting alteration in alcohol-related behaviors post-TBI can affect cognitive and neurological functions and thus can influence the overall recovery of the patient.Hence, understanding changes in alcohol behavior after TBI, with respect to the timing and causes responsible for the change, is important from the perspective of long-term outcome in these patients. In this review article, we discuss a number of studies to determine changes in alcohol drinking behavior following TBI and summarize the findings with respect to the timing of significant change in behavior, as well as the factors influencing this change. Overall it can provide an important piece of information regarding the preventive measures in a major subset of the population at risk of alcohol-use disorders and utilizing them at a time when the prevention can have a maximal impact.

Intimate partner violence, substance use, and health comorbidities among women: A narrative review

“…In the general population, there is some evidence that substance use increases following brain injury, but other factors, such as premorbid substance use, injury severity, and age at time of injury also affect this relationship (Ponsford et al, 2007;Pagulayan et al, 2016;Kennedy et al, 2017;Merkel et al, 2017;Shiwalkar et al, 2017;Schindler et al, 2021). Moreover, the high prevalence of IPV-related head trauma and probable brain injuries, coupled with other factors discussed above (e.g., comorbid mental health symptoms), likely increases the risk of SUD (Oliverio et al, 2020;Oakley et al, 2021).…”