Mood disorders and alcoholism

Age of onset data and pedigree information on 691 mood disorder probands and 4040 of their first degree relatives were compared on the basis of mood disorder subtype, gender of proband and relative, and presence or absence of alcoholism in the proband or relative. Comparisons were undertaken to determine if an association, suggested by the literature, exists between mood disorders and alcoholism within families. Excess alcoholism was observed in the male, as compared to female, first degree relatives of the following proband groups: (i) Unipolar (Single Episode and Recurrent) (p=0.0005 for males; p<0.0001 for females); (ii) female Bipolar (I+II) probands (p<0.0001); (iii) Unipolar-Single Episode probands (p=0.0001 for males; p=0.0014 for females); (iv) female Unipolar-Recurrent probands (p<0.0001); and (v) female Bipolar I probands (p