PARENTAL HISTORY OF ALCOHOLISM: A RISK FACTOR FOR ALCOHOL-RELATED PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHIES

The aim of this study was to identify the risk factors of alcohol-relatedperipheral neuropathies. A case-control study was performedto compare two groups of alcoholic patients, one with peripheralneuropathy and the other without, but with alcohol-related cirrhosis,pancreatitis or cardiomyopathy. Ninety patients were recruitedin four in-patient units of a French hospital: 32 patients hada peripheral neuropathy and 58 patients did not. Univariateanalysis showed no differences between the two groups for sex,age, body mass index and duration of the alcoholic disease.Peripheral neuropathies were associated with a higher frequencyof parental history of alcoholism, severity of alcohol dependence,heavier alcohol consumption and more alcohol-related somaticdiseases. Multivariate analysis showed a strong relationshipbetween a parental history of alcoholism and the presence ofa neuropathy, when the severity of the alcoholic disease wastaken into account (adjusted OR = 6.8, IC_95% [2.2-21.6], P <0.001). The hypothesis that neuropathy may be a marker of aninherited susceptibility to alcoholism is discussed.