Segregation Analysis of Drinking Problem in Elderly Men and Their First-Degree Relatives from the Western Collaborative Group Study

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 image 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.