Vocabulary deficit and abstraction impairment in hospitalized alcoholics.

The use of a standard intelligence test for detecting cognitive impairment has been re-examined in a cohort of 506 hospitalized alcoholics. The value of Vocabulary scores as indicators of original intelligence was tested by formulating the hypothesis that Vocabulary scores would remain constant despite increasing degrees of alcohol-induced cerebral dysfunction. Subjects were assigned to non-dysfunctional, minimal and severe dysfunctional groups on the basis of psychometric testing and their Wechsler Vocabulary scores categorized as either 'abstract' 'concrete' or 'wrong'. Significant linear deficits in Vocabulary score and loss of abstract ability correlated with increasing dysfunction, irrespective of age but with greater frequency in females.