Segregation analysis of drinking problem in elderly men and their first-degree relatives from the Western Collaborative Group Study.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study is to determine the mode of inheritance of alcohol-related drinking problems.


METHODS
Family history was collected by interview from 493 elderly male participants (probands) in a follow-up cardiovascular exam of healthy white men living in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. Segregation analysis was used to test for the presence of a major gene effect underlying the liability to develop an alcohol-related drinking problem.


RESULTS
The results showed that the liability to drinking problem is due, in part, to a single major gene with no residual effects from shared familial influences.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that at least one major gene is involved in the genetic predisposition to develop drinking problem in late adulthood.
Cheng
L S
LS
Department of Pediatrics, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA.
Carmelli
D
D
Swan
G E
GE
Pfefferbaum
A
A
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000235:genetics*; D020090:Chromosome Segregation / Q000235:genetics*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D005220:Fathers; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D015141:Los Angeles / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers; D009679:Nuclear Family; D012495:San Francisco / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People