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Segregation analysis of drinking problem in elderly men and their first-degree relatives from the Western
L S Cheng1, D Carmelli, G E Swan
1Department of Pediatrics, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA.
Purpose:
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.