Association between anxiety disorders and a functional polymorphism in theserotonin transporter gene

Recently, individuals with the short form of the serotonin transporter were found to be associated with neurotic characteristics. An association study on this polymorphism was performed in anxiety disorder patients and contro l subjects. The short form allele frequency in patients tended to be higher than that in control subjects (81.7 vs. 74.5%). Although it is difficult t o ascribe significance to these 'tendencies', these data may suggest that v ariation of this functional polymorphism makes some contribution to anxiety disorders. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.