BETHESDA, Md., July 2 (UPI) -- An analysis of a U.S. sample of people with alcohol dependence reveals five distinct subtypes of the disease, meaning there is no "typical alcoholic."
"Our findings should help dispel the popular notion of the 'typical alcoholic,'" first author Dr. Howard B. Moss, of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said in a statement.
The study, published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, identified the fives types as follows:
-- Young Adult subtype: 31.5 percent of U.S. alcoholics; relatively low rates of co-occurring substance abuse and other mental disorders and a low rate of family alcoholism.
-- Young Antisocial subtype: 21 percent of U.S. alcoholics in their mid-20s; likely family alcoholism and about half have a psychiatric diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder.
-- Functional subtype: 19.5 percent of U.S. alcoholics; typically middle-aged, well-educated, with stable jobs and families; about 25 percent had major depressive illness.
-- Intermediate Familial subtype: 19 percent of U.S. alcoholics; usually middle-aged, almost half have had clinical depression and 20 percent have had bipolar disorder.
-- Chronic Severe subtype: 9 percent of U.S. alcoholics; mostly of middle-aged individuals with high rates of antisocial personality disorder and criminality.
