Abstract
Binge drinking (BD) is a common practice among college students. Alcohol consumption may affect brain structures that continue to develop in early adulthood. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship of BD with impairments affecting memory and executive function among university students. A cross-sectional study was conducted among students (aged 18–30 years) enrolled for the academic year 2018–2019 at the Faculty of Nursing of the University of Cantabria (Spain). Data collection included sociodemographic and academic information, together with alcohol and drug use information, collected by means of a semi-structured questionnaire. A battery of validated tests was used to gather neuropsychological variables. A total of 142 participants were included, of which 88.03% were women. Up to 38.03% were classified as BD. No differences were found in memory tests. Regarding executive function, better performance in the Stroop Color and Word Test was observed in non-BD but the results were not statistically significant. In conclusion, no relationship was found between memory and executive function and BD, although better performance in executive function, specifically inhibitory control, was observed in non-BD.
Highlights
Alcohol is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in many countries
A systematic review by Carbia et al [20] claims that the pattern of binge drinking (BD) in college students is associated with difficulties in verbal memory the authors only found eight studies that evaluated this variable, using different tests based on learning lists or story recall
We found no differences in visual memory between the two groups of young people in accordance with the results of the review by Carbia et al published in 2018 [20], including 20 studies analyzing visual memory and BD, five of which used the ROCFT
Summary
In data from 2018, around 43% of the world’s population and over 50% of Europeans had consumed alcohol in the past 12 months [1]. In Spain, in 2017, approximately 90% of the population over 14 years of age had consumed alcohol in their lifetime and approximately 75.2% had done so in the last year [2]. Alcohol consumption is a frequent habit among young adults [3], considering that worldwide, over a quarter of young people aged 15–19 years old consume alcohol, with the highest prevalence rate found in the WHO. In Spain, during the period of 2010–2017, around 60% of young people aged 15–34 years had consumed alcohol in the last 30 days [2]. The definition of BD does not have a consensus in the scientific
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