Delayed visual evoked potentials in chronic alcoholism.

Pattern reversal visual evoked potentials (VEPs) were studied in 80 chronic alcoholics and in 43 normal subjects. In the patient group, P2 latencies and inter-eye differences were found above the 98% confidence limit in 30%, and above the 99.9% confidence limit in 10%. An abnormal waveform was observed in 12.5% and 7.5% of the patients. VEP abnormalities showed some statistical correlation with the gamma-type of alcoholism of Jellinek, but almost no correlation was observed with a variety of clinical and laboratory data. This suggest that VEP abnormalities are unrelated to other toxic effects of alcohol on the peripheral and central nervous systems or on metabolism.