Binge Drinking in Young University Students Is Associated with Alterations in Executive Functions Related to Their Starting Age

Abstract

Our aim was to evaluate whether or not alcohol consumption in the form of binge drinking is associated with alterations of memory and executive functions in a population of university students. At the same time, we have studied the role of potential modulating factors, such as the APOE genotype or physical exercise.University students enrolled in academic year 2013–2014 at Escuelas Universitarias Gimbernat-Cantabria, affiliated with the University of Cantabria, were invited to participate in the study. We gathered sociodemographic data and details regarding the lifestyle of 206 students (mean age 19.55 ± 2.39; 67.5% women). We evaluated memory and executive functions via a series of validated cognitive tests. Participants were classified as binge drinkers (BD) and non-BD. Using Student's t-distribution we studied the association between cognitive tests and BD patterns. Multivariate analyses were carried out via multiple linear regression. 47.6% of the students were found to be BD. The BD differed significantly from the non-BD in their results in the executive functions test TMT B (43.41 ± 13.30 vs 37.40 ± 9.77; p = 0.0003). Adjusting by age, sex, academic records, age at which they started consuming alcohol, cannabis consumption, level of physical activity and other possible modifying variables, the association was statistically significant (p = 0.009). We noticed a statistically significant inverse correlation (Pearson’s r2 = -0.192; p = 0.007) between TMT B and starting age of alcohol consumption. Differences were observed in another executive functions test, TMT A, but only in the group of women (19.73±6.1 BD vs 17.78±5.4 non-BD p = 0.05). In spite of the young age of our participants, BD was associated with a lower performance in the executive functions test (TMT B). These deficits were related to the age at which they started drinking alcohol, suggesting an accumulative effect.

Is Alcohol Consumption Associated with Poor Perceived Academic Performance? Survey of Undergraduates in Finland

“…Similar to our findings, 67.2% of Slovakian undergraduates reported HED [38]. Likewise, 47.6% of students in Spain were binge drinkers [14], and 61% of students in England were positive for Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) scores [62]. Acute negative alcohol-related consequences have a dose-response relationship with binge drinking [63], where more frequent binge episodes are linked to higher risk of adverse consequences [64][65][66].…”

“…A body of research evidences the relationship between alcohol consumption, and the deterioration of cognitive functions and worsening academic performance. For example, excessive alcohol consumption is associated with disorders of memory, attention, and planning [12][13][14][15][16][17]; daily drinking was significantly negatively associated with academic performance [18]; and problematic alcohol use among university students was associated with poor academic performance [19]. The relationship between HED and academic engagement, performance, and future aspirations among secondary school students suggests that students who initiate binge drinking have poor school performance and engagement, which may hinder achieving their future academic goals [20].…”

Executive Impairments in Binge Drinking: Evidence for a Specific Performance-Monitoring Difficulty during Alcohol-Related Processing

“…Higher brain activation was also found in response to alcohol cues [19,20], supporting that a strong reactivity toward alcohol may explain the difficulties encountered by binge drinkers (BD). Regarding executive abilities, specific alterations have been reported for planning [21], flexibility [22], inhibition [23], and decisionmaking [24]. These results are also supported by evidence of modified cerebral activities, showing higher amplitude of attentional and decisional components during executive processing, which indicates the need for higher cognitive resources to perform such tasks [25,26].…”

Relationship of Wine Consumption with Alzheimer’s Disease

“…Neuronal degeneration observed in the adult brain after chronic alcohol exposure gave rise to the neurotoxicity hypothesis, according to which chronic intake of alcohol can cause glutamate excitotoxicity and oxidative stress with neuronal loss [91]. If excitotoxicity is fundamental for neuro-destruction in adult models of chronic alcoholism is only speculative, further studies are needed [92].…”