A comparison of alcoholic and nonalcoholic drug abusers.

A group of 329 hospitalized drug abusers were evaluated for a current or past diagnosis of alcoholism. The alcoholic drug-dependent patients (n = 169, 51.4%) were then compared with the nonalcoholic patients (n = 160, 48.6%) with regard to sociodemographic, clinical and family history characteristics. The alcoholics were significantly more likely to receive a DSM-III diagnosis of major depression, with melancholia; other Axis I diagnoses were equally distributed between the two groups. Antisocial personality disorder was also significantly more prevalent among the alcoholic patients. The alcoholics had somewhat longer drug histories and more vivid memories of their first drinking experiences; polydrug abuse, however, was no more common in this group. Finally, the first-degree relatives of the alcoholics had significantly more alcoholism than the first-degree relatives of the nonalcoholic patients. Implications regarding the relationship of alcoholism and other forms of substance abuse are discussed.

对329名住院的吸毒者进行了评估，以确定其当前或过去是否被诊断为酗酒。然后将酗酒的药物依赖患者（n = 169，51.4%）与非酗酒患者（n = 160，48.6%）在社会人口统计学、临床和家族史特征方面进行了比较。酗酒者更有可能被《精神疾病诊断与统计手册》第三版（DSM - III）诊断为伴有忧郁症的重度抑郁症；其他第一轴诊断在两组之间分布均匀。反社会人格障碍在酗酒患者中也更为普遍。酗酒者的吸毒史略长，对首次饮酒经历的记忆更清晰；然而，多种药物滥用在该组中并不更常见。最后，酗酒者的一级亲属患酗酒症的比例明显高于非酗酒患者的一级亲属。讨论了酗酒与其他形式的药物滥用之间关系的影响。