Syndrome profiles in alcoholism and panic disorder with or without agoraphobia: an explorative family study

It is proposed that alcoholism and panic disorder/agoraphobia demonstrate in part common genetic and environmental origins. Shared subthreshold symptom patterns in the parents' generation could confirm the proposed genetic role in alcoholism and panic disorder/agoraphobia, even if the parents do not fulfil the diagnostic criteria for a primary psychiatric diagnosis. This is the first family study of exploratively analyzing subthreshold symptoms in both disorders. The authors investigated families with panic disorder/agoraphobia and/or alcoholism with the Munich-Composite International Diagnostic Interview (M-CIDI). We documented the diagnoses according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria and subdivided the answers of the probands into 16 subthreshold diagnostic groups comprising 259 single items. We found statistically significant correlations of subthreshold syndrome profiles in the parents of patients with panic disorder/agoraphobia and alcoholism. The presented method of analyzing syndrome profiles in a family study seems to be a possibility to demonstrate references to genetic links between patients and parents in anxiety- and alcohol-related disorders.