Alcoholism in relatives of primary cocaine-dependent patients

Inherited susceptibility is believed by some to be a factor in cocaine dependence. In this study, nonalcoholic cocaine-dependent patients (N = 175) were screened to identify alcoholic first-degree relatives. One or more first-degree relatives are also reported to be alcoholic by 25% to 50% of alcoholic patients. Approximately the same percentage of these cocaine patients (34%) also report having an alcoholic first-degree relative. This lends credence to the hypothesis that the apparent inherited susceptibility to alcoholism may be a more general susceptibility to addictive disease. A much higher proportion of females than males have an alcoholic first-degree relative.