Abstinence in recently detoxified AUD patients is subtended by increased inhibitory neural resources: A retrospective event-related potentials study.

A lack of inhibitory resources contributes to the onset and the maintenance of addictive behaviors, reflecting an inability to control impulses to consume. Enhancing inhibitory control has been therefore acknowledged to support abstinence in alcohol use disorder (AUD) patients. In the present retrospective study, we analyzed data from 32 AUD inpatients who underwent a three-week detoxification program (at the CHU Brugmann, Brussels, Belgium). During their hospital stay, they completed a test-retest event-related potentials (ERPs) Go-Nogo task, using neutral versus alcohol-related contexts. The first session (T0) took place approximately 4-7 days after admission, once withdrawal symptoms had subsided, and the second (T1) occurred just before discharge, around 15 days later. Follow-up data on drinking behavior were collected three months after discharge to assess the rate of abstinence versus relapse. The primary objective was to assess whether three-month abstinent patients were those who exhibited a significant increase in the amplitude of the Nogo P3 component at the end of the detoxification program (T1 > T0), compared to those who relapsed. The main result of this study was that an increase in the Nogo P3 component appeared to act as a protective factor against early relapse in detoxified AUD patients. Such data could have important clinical implications, enabling clinicians to identify detoxified AUD patients at high risk of relapse and guide them toward tailored, individualized cognitive rehabilitation programs.