Abstract
Chronic alcohol abuse can lead to a brain damages, and the health status of alcoholics even after a long-term alcohol abstinence is a public health concern. The present study investigated the color vision and spatial luminance contrast sensitivity of a group of 17 ex-alcoholics (46.3 ± 6.7 years old) in long-term alcohol abstinence after having been previously under alcohol dependence for many years. We also investigated the association of impaired psychophysical performance in different tests we applied. The mean time of alcohol consumption was 16.9 ± 5.1 years and the mean abstinence period was 12.4 ± 8.5 years. Achromatic vision of all subjects was evaluated using spatial luminance contrast sensitivity function (CSF) test and color vision was evaluated using Mollon–Reffin color discrimination test (MR) and the Farnsworth–Munsell 100 hue arrangement test (FM100). Relative to controls, the spatial luminance contrast sensitivity was lower in 10/17 of the ex-alcoholic subjects. In the color vision tests, 11/16 ex-alcoholic subjects had impaired results compared to controls in the FM100 test and 13/14 subjects had color vision deficits measured in the MR test. Fourteen subjects performed all visual tests, three subjects had impaired results for all tests, seven subjects had impaired results in two tests, three subjects had visual deficit in one test, and one had normal results for all tests. The results showed the existence of functional deficits in achromatic and chromatic vision of subjects with history of chronic alcoholism after long abstinence. Most subjects had altered result in more than one test, especially in the color vision tests. The present investigation suggests that the damage in visual functions produced by abusive alcohol consumption is not reversed after long term alcohol abstinence.
Highlights
The abusive alcohol consumption results in death of 2.5 million people per year around the world
We observed that the contrast sensitivity of the exalcoholics was significantly lower than the control group at 0.5 and 0.8 cpd (H = 528.7, p < 0.05)
Association Between Contrast Sensitivity Function and Mollon–Reffin Color Discrimination Test We found that two ex-alcoholics had normal color vision evaluated by Mollon–Reffin color discrimination test (MR) test and 13 ex-alcoholic subjects had impaired color vision evaluated using MR test
Summary
The abusive alcohol consumption results in death of 2.5 million people per year around the world. 60 different types of pathologies have significant association with alcohol consumption (World Health Organization [WHO], 2000). Many diseases can be associated with alcoholic behavior, such as cataract, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma (Chong et al, 2008; Kanthan et al, 2010; Lee et al, 2010). Alcohol causes transient and permanent effects on the visual system. Acute alcohol exposure causes transitory effects in the visual system that show partial or total functional recovery in the scale of minutes to hours (Zulauf et al, 1988). Chronic alcohol consumption leads to effects in the visual system with longer duration or even permanent damage (Verriest et al, 1980; Kapitany et al, 1993)
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