Depression, criminality and psychopathology associated with alcoholism: evidence from a twin study.
A study of 74 twin pairs with alcoholic probands from the Maudsley Hospital is reported. Pairwise concordance for alcoholism as categorised by the SADS-L Research Diagnostic Criteria is similar in MZ twins (29%, 8/22) and DZ twins (33%, 13/39). Concordance for all diagnoses other than alcoholism is however significantly greater in MZ twins (48%, 13/27) than DZ twins (21%, 8/39, P less than 0.001). Concordance in MZ and DZ twins for all diagnoses other than alcoholism, including depression, did not coincide with concordance for alcoholism. Data on criminality revealed that 21% (32/148) of the twin sample had non-alcohol, non-traffic offences on record at the UK Home Office. Of the 32 with criminal records, 28 were alcoholic probands and pairwise concordance for criminality was found in only 1 MZ and 2 DZ pairs.
D000437:Alcoholism / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D003415:Crime; D003863:Depression / Q000235:genetics; D004200:Diseases in Twins; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000235:genetics; D011247:Pregnancy; D011599:Psychopathology; D014427:Twins / Q000523:psychology*; D014429:Twins, Dizygotic / Q000523:psychology; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic / Q000523:psychology