A follow-up study on chromosomal aberrations in lymphocytes of alcoholics during early, medium, and long-term...

The frequencies of structural chromosomal aberrations were analyzed in peripheral blood lymphocytes of 31 chronic alcoholics at the beginning of an intensive outpatient treatment program at a neuropsychiatric clinic and were compared with 31 controls matched for gender, age, smoking habits, and nondrinkers. A statistically significant difference was observed in the level of chromosomal aberrations in somatic cells from alcoholics when compared with controls (3.01% vs. 1.28%, p < or = 0.001). A follow-up study was carried out for a subset of the patients after 3 months (8 subjects) and 12 months (14 subjects) of controlled abstinence. A statistically significant increase in the mean frequency of cells with aberrations was observed in the group of 14 subjects reinvestigated after 12 months of abstinence when compared with the mean value of the first blood samples immediately after hospitalization (4.61% vs. 3.01%; p < or = 0.001). An excessive increase in cigarette consumption during alcohol abstinence, reflected by a dramatic elevation of CO-hemoglobin levels, may, at least in part, account for this finding. In conclusion, chronic alcoholism leads to genotoxic effects that, instead of recovering after 1 year of alcohol abstinence, are even enhanced, most likely due to the "shift in addictive behavior."