Neurobiological and Cognitive Profile of Young Binge Drinkers: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

This review provides the first systematic and quantitative synthesis of the literature examining the relationship between binge drinking, cognition, brain structure and function in youth aged 10 to 24 years. PubMed, EMBASE, Medline, PsychINFO and ProQuest were searched for neuroimaging, neurophysiological, and neuropsychological studies. A total of 58 studies (21 neuroimaging, 16 neurophysiological, 21 neuropsychological) met the eligibility criteria and were included in the review. Overall, abnormal or delayed development of key frontal executive-control regions may predispose youth to binge drink. These abnormalities appear to be further exacerbated by the uptake of binge drinking, in addition to alcohol-related neural aberrations in reward-seeking and incentive salience regions, indexed by cognitive deficits and maladaptive alcohol associations. A meta-analysis of neuropsychological correlates identified that binge drinking in youth was associated with a small overall neurocognitive deficit (g = −0.26) and specific deficits in decisionmaking (g = −1.70), and inhibition (g = −0.39). Using the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) Evidence Profile, the certainty in outcomes ranged from very low to low. Future prospective longitudinal studies should address concomitant factors, exposure thresholds, and age-related vulnerabilities of binge drinking, as well as the degree of recovery following discontinuation of use.

Effect of alcohol use on the adolescent brain and behavior

“…Reward hypersensitivity in combination with low inhibition is thought to increase adolescents' drive for risky and novel experiences, such as alcohol use (30,32). Neurotoxin exposure, particularly alcohol use, during adolescence can affect healthy brain development, with even minor changes in neurodevelopmental trajectories affecting a range of cognitive, emotional, and social functioning (4). Alcohol use during adolescence could therefore set the stage for cognitive problems into adulthood, conferring functional consequences throughout life.…”

“…Notably, alcohol use behaviors at ages 12 to 14 predict lower educational achievement in later years, even after accounting for confounding factors such as sex and externalizing behavior (51). A recent meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies reported adolescent binge drinking was associated with an overall cognitive deficit and specific impairments in decision-making and inhibition (4). Herein, we report on longitudinal studies that have identified potential negative effects of adolescent binge drinking and heavy alcohol use on memory, learning, visuospatial function, executive function, reading ability and impulsivity.…”

“…Cross-sectional design studies have established a relationship between adolescent alcohol use, brain development, and cognitive function (4). Over the past decade, researchers have attempted to understand the direction of this relationship.…”

Increased Nucleus Accumbens Volume in College Binge Drinkers - Preliminary Evidence From Manually Segmented MRI Analysis

“…Likewise, early age drinkers seem to exhibit a higher susceptibility to the deleterious consequences of alcohol on the brain. Accordingly, several studies in both animals and humans have highlighted the major neurotoxic effects of acute intermittent alcohol consumption in the adolescent brain (10)(11)(12)(13), especially in the late matured structures such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC) (14)(15)(16)(17). In this sense, the youth tendency to engage in BD during adolescence has been associated with a protracted maturing course of the regions comprising this circuitry (18,19).…”

Parental Family History of Alcohol Use Disorder and Neural Correlates of Response Inhibition in Children From the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study

“…These statistics are concerning because excessive alcohol use during adolescence is associated with a myriad of negative consequences including alcohol and substance use disorders (AUD, SUD; Dwyer‐Lindgren et al, 2018), and other mental health problems (Pompili et al, 2010; Teesson et al, 2010; Welsh et al, 2017). Alcohol use during adolescence has also been associated with alterations in brain structure and function, including aberrant activation patterns during response inhibition tasks (for review, see Lees et al, 2020; Lees et al, 2019; Squeglia and Cservenka, 2017; Squeglia and Gray, 2016), as well as poorer test performance across cognitive domains, with executive functions and memory being the most vulnerable (Gould, 2010; Lees et al, 2019). Recent longitudinal neuroimaging studies have begun investigating, and have shown, that underlying neural vulnerabilities of response inhibition in substance‐naïve children appear to contribute to earlier initiation and problematic progression of alcohol use during adolescence (Squeglia and Cservenka, 2017).…”