Influence of impulsiveness, suicidality, and serotonin genes on treatment outcomes in alcohol dependence - A preliminary report

Alcohol dependence is a chronic disease with persistent susceptibility to relapse. Most treated alcoholics, regardless of therapy applied, achieve only short-term periods of abstinence and then return to drinking. Research studies show that 35% of treated alcohol-dependent patients fail to maintain abstinence for even 2 weeks after the completed treatment program, and 58% relapse during the first 3 months [1]. Polich et al. [2] reported that over 80% of treated alcohol-dependMarcin Wojnar1,2, Kirk J. Brower2, Andrzej Jakubczyk1, Izabela Żmigrodzka1,2, Margit Burmeister3, Halina Matsumoto1, Elzbieta Woźny1, Elzbieta Śliwerska3, Andrea M. Hegedus2, Anna Klimkiewicz1, Anna Ślufarska1, Michal Lipinski1, Robert A. Zucker2: 1 Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of Warsaw, Nowowiejska 27, 00–665 Warsaw, Poland; 2 University of Michigan Department of Psychiatry and Addiction Research Center, Ann Arbor, USA; 3 Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA; Correspondence address: Marcin Wojnar, Andrzej Jakubczyk, Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of Warsaw, 27 Nowowiejska St., 00–665 Warsaw, Poland; E-mails: marcin@psych.waw.pl, and344@wp.pl; The support for this research was provided by Fogarty International Center/NIDA International Substance Abuse Research Program grant D43-TW05818 Influence of impulsiveness, suicidality, and serotonin genes on treatment outcomes in alcohol dependence – a preliminary report