Carolien Zeetsen

50 Results Patient characteristics A total of 82 patients were included in this study, 54.9% of whom were classified as having NCD based on the NPA results. Mean NPA domain scores differed significantly between patients with and without NCD for all cognitive domains except orientation (Table 3.2). Table 3.2. Mean ( SD ) performance in z –scores for each domain of the neuropsychological assess- ment (NPA) for patients with and without neurocognitive disorders (NCD) and in the total sample. NPA domain Total NCD no–NCD p –value ( n = 82) ( n = 45) ( n = 37) Executive functioning –0.10 (0.89) –0.32 (1.02) 0.16 (0.62) .011* Visuospatial abilities –0.83 (0.99) –1.21 (0.88) –0.37 (0.92) < .001*** Attention –0.78 (0.90) –1.16 (0.71) –0.32 (0.89) < .001*** Abstract reasoning –0.71 (0.83) –1.00 (0.85) –0.35 (0.64) < .001*** Memory –0.67 (1.01) –1.00 (1.02) –0.27 (0.86) .001** Orientation 4.20 (1.11) 4.05 (1.32) 4.36 (0.80) .211 Processing speed –0.61 (0.89) –1.03 (0.80) –0.10 (0.71) < .001*** Note: * = p < .05; ** = p < .01; *** = p < .001. The overall mean age was 44.1 ( SD = 13.77) and 68.3% were men. The most prevalent primary problem substance of abuse was alcohol (70.7%). More patients were abstinent at follow–up than at baseline (an increase of 28.0%). The majority (42.7%) was not abstinent at either time point. Except for age and marital status, both patient groups were comparable (Table 3.3). Table 3.3. Patient characteristics for patients with and without neurocognitive disorders (NCD) and in the total sample. Total NCD no–NCD p –value ( n = 82) ( n = 45) ( n = 37) Mean age in years ( SD ) 44.1 (13.8) 46.9 (13.9) 40.8 (13.0) .045* Sex, men (%) 56 (68.3) 30 (66.7) 26 (70.3) .814# Level of Education (%) .251 low educated 14 (17.1) 5 (11.1) 9 (24.3) average educated 59 (72.0) 34 (75.6) 25 (67.6) high educated 9 (11.0) 6 (13.3) 3 (8.1)