These results highlight the importance of the revised criteria for the diagnosis of a subclinical form of Wernicke’s encephalopathy proposed by Caine and colleagues (Caine et al., 1997) and operationalized by Pitel and colleagues (Pitel et al., 2011) for identifying factors contributing to cognitive and motor deficits in non-KS chronic alcoholism, particularly the criteria of cerebellar dysfunction and dietary deficiencies in abstinent alcoholics. Indeed, application of these criteria may aid in identifying individuals who are are at heightened risk of developing cognitive and motor deficits. Further, the Caine criteria may contribute to the understanding of the underlying nature of the heterogeneity in functional deficits in chronic alcoholism and inconsistencies reported among studies.
