High rates of psychiatric disorders, particularly major depression, alcohol
ism, drug-use disorder and antisocial personality disorder in the relatives
of opiate-dependent patients compared with normal controls, have been repo
rted in some previous studies. This study was designed to evaluate the prev
alence rates of drug-use and other psychiatric disorders in the first-degre
e relatives of opiate-dependent patients and compare these with rates in th
e first-degree relatives of surgical and psychiatric patients.
A case-control study was conducted to compare the prevalence of psychiatric
and drug-use disorders (which were estimated by the Family History Method)
in 241 biological first-degree relatives of 50 opiate-dependent patients t
o that in 235 and 222 first-degree relatives of 50 surgical and 50 psychiat
ric patients respectively. The main outcome measure was the relative risk (
expressed as odds ratio) of psychiatric and drug-use disorders.
First-degree relatives of opiate-dependent patients were found to have sign
ificantly higher rates of drug-use and antisocial personality disorders, co
mpared with relatives of surgical and psychiatric probands. The odds ratio
for alcoholism appeared significantly higher only in first-degree female re
latives of opiate users, suggesting effect modification by sex.
The study provides further evidence for the higher rate of drug-use disorde
r in the fu st-degree relatives of opiate-dependent patients. These finding
s suggest that familial drug-use disorder contributes to a vulnerability to
opiate misuse.
Implications of these findings for the classification and treatment of opia
te dependence are discussed.