This study has a few limitations. First, the proportion of male participants was significantly higher than that of female participants (~91% for each group). According to previous studies, the prevalence of AUD in men is approximately twice as high as that in women, but the proportion of men who participated in this study was much higher than that in the population. Future studies should include more female participants, since the neurobiological mechanism of AUD in females might be different from those in males (65). Second, the sample size in the study was relatively small (n = 20 for each group), which limits the generalizability of the study findings. Nevertheless, the patient sample consisted of well-diagnosed, stable, chronic individuals with AUD, and the sample size provided enough power to detect between-group differences. However, to provide more generalizable insights into PHB, larger sample sizes should be used in future studies. Lastly, because it was a cross-sectional study, we could not determine the causal relationship showing whether the altered FC or structural damage was due to the effect of alcohol, or whether these
