1 research outputs found
Sex-related differences in young binge drinkers on the neurophysiological response to stress in virtual reality
Background: Stress is one of the main environmental factors involved in the
onset of different psychopathologies. In youth, stressful life events can trigger
inappropriate and health-damaging behaviors, such as binge drinking. This
behavior, in turn, can lead to long-lasting changes in the neurophysiological
response to stress and the development of psychological disorders late in life, e.g.,
alcohol use disorder. Our aim was to analyze the pattern of neurophysiological
responses triggered with the exposition to a stressful virtual environment in
young binge drinkers.
Methods: AUDIT-3 (third question from the full AUDIT) was used to detect binge
drinking (BD) in our young sample (age 18–25 years). According to the score,
participants were divided into control (CO) and BD group. Next, a standardized
virtual reality (VR) scenario (Richie’s Plank) was used for triggering the stress
response while measuring the following neurophysiological variables: brain
electrical activity by electroencephalogram (EEG) and cortisol levels through
saliva samples both measurements registered before and after the stressful
situation. Besides, heart rate (HR) with a pulsometer and electrodermal response
(EDA) through electrodes placed on fingers were analyzed before, during and
after the VR task.
Results: Regarding the behavior assessed during the VR task, BD group spent
significantly less amount of time walking forward the table and a tendency
toward more time walking backwards. There was no statistically significant
difference between the BD and the CO group regarding time looking down,
but when we controlled the variable sex, the BD women group displayed higher
amount of time looking down than the rest of the groups. Neurophysiological
measurements revealed that there was not any statistically significant difference
between groups in any of the EEG registered measures, EDA response and
cortisol levels. Sex-related differences were found in HR response to VR
scenario, in which BD women displayed the highest peak of response to the
stressor. Also, the change in heartbeat was higher in BD women than men.
Conclusion: Unveiling the neurophysiological alterations associated with BD
can help us to prevent and detect early onset of alcohol use disorder. Also,
from our data we conclude that participants’ sex can modulate some stress
responses, especially when unhealthy behaviors such as BD are present.
Nevertheless, the moment of registration of the neurophysiological variables
respect to the stressor seems to be a crucial variableThe author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Health (Government Delegation for the National Plan on Drugs, code 2022I004 to PS-P), Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, UE, code PID2022-137601OA-I00 to PS-P) and Universidad Francisco de Vitoria (project reference: UFV2022-41 to RM-F