Changes in interoception before and after treatment in patients with alcohol use disorder.

Aims: To investigate the factors associated with interoception in patients with alcohol use disorder and determine whether treatment causes changes in their interoception.

Methods: The Body Perception Questionnaire-Body Awareness ultra-short version Japanese version (BPQ-BAVSF-J) was used to measure interoception in 50 alcohol-dependent participants (27 in the inpatient group and 23 in the outpatient group). The BPQ-BAVSF-J was administered and data on aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (γ-GTP), mean corpuscular volume, platelet count, and Fib-4 index were extracted at admission and immediately before discharge for the inpatient group and at the first outpatient visit and approximately 3 months after the visit for the outpatient group.

Results: The mean age of the 50 participants was 51.0 ± 12.3 years. Significant associations were found between the BPQ-BAVSF-J and Fib-4 index and AST. The BPQ-BAVSF-J score significantly decreased at discharge in the inpatient group. AST, ALT, γ-GTP, and Fib-4 index of liver function were also significantly lower at discharge. In contrast, in the outpatient group, there were no significant changes in the BPQ-BAVSF-J score, AST level, ALT level, γ-GTP level, and Fib-4 index between at the first outpatient visit and approximately 3 months after the visit.

Conclusions: Interoception in patients with alcohol use disorder increased with worsening liver function and decreased with improvement in liver function owing to treatment. This suggests that the BPQ-BAVSF-J score, an easily accessible scale, may be used to detect early deterioration of liver function through regular administration.