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Mood disorders and alcoholism

University of British Columbia

Age of onset data and pedigree information on 691 mood disorder probands and 4040 of their first degree relatives were compared on the basis of mood disorder subtype, gender of proband and relative, and presence or absence of alcoholism in the proband or relative. Comparisons were undertaken to determine if an association, suggested by the literature, exists between mood disorders and alcoholism within families. Excess alcoholism was observed in the male, as compared to female, first degree relatives of the following proband groups: (i) Unipolar (Single Episode and Recurrent) (p=0.0005 for males; p<0.0001 for females); (ii) female Bipolar (I+II) probands (p<0.0001); (iii) Unipolar-Single Episode probands (p=0.0001 for males; p=0.0014 for females); (iv) female Unipolar-Recurrent probands (p<0.0001); and (v) female Bipolar I probands (p<0.0001). Excess alcoholism was observed in the male, as compared to female, second degree relatives of the following proband groups: (a) female Unipolar-Single Episode probands (p=0.0002); female Unipolar-Recurrent probands (p=0.0002); and female Bipolar I probands (p=0.0014). However, when the gender proportion of alcoholics in the general population was taken into account, these significant differences were not observed. Neither a family history of alcoholism, suicide nor co-morbid alcoholism in mood disorder proband had a significant effect on the average ages of onset in the proband groups. The results of these comparisons indicate that there is no common genetic etiology between alcoholism and mood disorders in this proband group.

Thesis/Dissertation

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2009-02-17

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/4678

Medical Genetics

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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