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Alcohol abuse in Huntington's disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Michael King*
Affiliation:
General Practice Research Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Michael King,General Practice Research Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF.

Synopsis

Forty-two patients attending a Huntington's Disease Research project at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, were screened for alcohol abuse and alcohol-related problems. Prevalence of current or past alcohol abuse was 24% for males, 5.9% for females or 16.7% overall. When alcohol abuse occurred in HD probands it was often concurrent with depressive symptoms, and may have been associated with the threat of the disease. There was no evidence that HD patients had an increased rate of alcohol abuse above that of the local Baltimore community.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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