Psychiatric disorders among relatives of surgical controls

The risks of various psychiatric illnesses among the first-degree relatives of 160 surgical control patients were estimated. Morbidity risks were calculated separately for males and females because of previous findings showing significant sex differences for certain diagnoses. The findings, based on ICD-9 criteria, demonstrate a significantly higher risk of depression, neurosis, and organic brain syndrome in females than in males. The risk of alcoholism was significantly higher in males.