Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry

The alcoholic neuropathies developed in approximately 34% of chronic alcoholics and the sexual dysfunction had been experienced in 8-54% of male alcoholics(Schiavi 1990). The aims of this study were to identify the prevalence of subclinical polyneuropathies and sexual disorders in alcohol dependence, and to evaluate the association between them. The nerve conduction velocity(NCV), electromyography(EMG), and pudendal somatosensory evoked potentials(SEPs) were tested for the male alcoholics(N=34) and controls(N=17 for NCV & EMG, N=25 for pudendal SEPs). The pudendal SEPs were measured by the following procedures, in which we stimulated the dorsal nerve of penis attached by the ring electrode(stimulus intensity, three times of threshold；stimulus rate, 1-4.7Hz；stimulus duration, 0.1 or 0.2msec), and recorded at the scalp(active electrode, 2cm behind Cz；reference electrode, Fz). The NCV and EMG detected signs of peripheral neuropathies in 79.4% of alcoholics. Among the alcoholics, 64.7% were abnormal on the pudendal SEPs. Among the alcoholics who revealed abnormality on EMG and NCV, 81.4% were abnormal on the pudendal SEPs, in which 51.9% were not responded. The P1 latencies of pudendal SEPs on neuropathic alcoholics were significantly delayed(p<0.05) than non-neuropathic alcoholics. There was a relative correlation between peripheral neuropathies and sexual disorders in the alcoholics. The prevalence of subclinical neuropathies and sexual disorders seemed to be much higher in alcohol dependence than expectation, and these two problems were relatively correlated, and our results suggested that the peripheral polyneuropathies were one of the prerequisites of sexual disorders.

Keywords Alcohol dependence;Peripheral neuropathy;Sexual disorders;Nerve conduction velocity;Pudendal SEPs.