title: Familial influence and childhood trauma in female alcoholism.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To assess the role of genetic and environmental factors in female alcoholism using a large population-based twin sample, taking into account possible differences between early and late onset disease subtype.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twins aged 20-47 years from the Swedish Twin Registry (n=24 119) answered questions to establish lifetime alcohol use disorders. Subjects with alcoholism were classified for subtype. Structural equation modeling was used to quantify the proportion of phenotypic variance due to genetic and environmental factors and test whether heritability in women differed from that in men. The association between childhood trauma and alcoholism was then examined in females, controlling for background familial factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Lifetime prevalence of alcohol dependence was 4.9% in women and 8.6% in men. Overall, heritability for alcohol dependence was 55%, and did not differ significantly between men and women, although women had a significantly greater heritability for late onset (type I). Childhood physical trauma and sexual abuse had a stronger association with early onset compared to late onset alcoholism [odds ratio (OR) 2.54, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.53-3.88 and OR 2.29, 95% CI 1.38-3.79 respectively]. Co-twin analysis indicated that familial factors largely accounted for the influence of physical trauma whereas the association with childhood sexual abuse reflected both familial and specific effects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Heritability of alcoholism in women is similar to that in men. Early onset alcoholism is strongly association with childhood trauma, which seems to be both a marker of familial background factors and a specific individual risk factor per se.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Å
authors.initials: Å
authors.lastname: Magnusson
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lundholm
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Göransson
authors.affiliation: Center for Developmental Epidemiology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Copeland
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heilig
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: N L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Pedersen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics*; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D004200:Diseases in Twins / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012042:Registries; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult