MAOA alters the effects of heavy drinking and childhood physical abuse on risk for severe impulsive acts of violence among alcoholic violent offenders.
BACKGROUND
A polymorphism in the promoter region of the monoamine oxidase A gene (MAOA) has been shown to alter the effect of persistent drinking and childhood maltreatment on the risk for violent and antisocial behaviors. These findings indicate that MAOA could contribute to inter-individual differences in stress resiliency.


METHODS
Recidivism in severe violent crimes was assessed after 8 years of nonincarcerated follow-up in a male sample of 174 impulsive Finnish alcoholic violent offenders, the majority of whom exhibited antisocial (ASPD) or borderline personality disorder (BPD) or both. We examined whether MAOA genotype alters the effects of heavy drinking and childhood physical abuse (CPA) on the risk for committing impulsive recidivistic violent crimes.


RESULTS
Logistic regression analyses showed that both heavy drinking and CPA were significant independent predictors of recidivism in violent behavior (OR 5.2, p = 0.004 and OR 5.3, p = 0.003) among offenders having the high MAOA activity genotype (MAOA-H), but these predictors showed no effect among offenders carrying the low MAOA activity genotype (MAOA-L).


CONCLUSIONS
Carriers of the MAOA-H allele have a high risk to commit severe recidivistic impulsive violent crimes after exposure to heavy drinking and CPA.
Tikkanen
Roope
R
Institute of Clinical Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki, Finland. roope.tikkanen@helsinki.fi <roope.tikkanen@helsinki.fi>
Ducci
Francesca
F
Goldman
David
D
Holi
Matti
M
Lindberg
Nina
N
Tiihonen
Jari
J
Virkkunen
Matti
M
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D057237:Criminals / Q000523:psychology*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000201:enzymology / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008995:Monoamine Oxidase / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
D008995:Monoamine Oxidase