Variation in length of time to development of alcoholism by family history of problem drinking

Abstract

Patients hospitalized for treatment of alcoholism were asked to provide information on family history of drinking problems, age at onset of drinking, and timing of the occurrence of problems due to use of alcohol in their lives, using a time scale. Analysis of data from 256 male patients indicated a strong association between a family history of problem drinking and development of alcoholism at a young age. Mean age at the time the patients could be defined as alcoholic, based on the chronological history of the time of occurrence of symptoms, ranged from 27.2 years for bilineal family history positive patients to 38.5 years for those with negative family history, and the difference could not be explained by differences in age at onset of drinking. The results indicate that the increased risk of alcoholism among individuals with family history of problem drinking, which has been postulated on the basis of many cross-sectional studies, is likely to be overestimated.