Family history of depression and alcoholism in Alzheimer patients and age‐matched controls

Abstract Depression and depressive symptoms are reported to occur frequently in patients with Alzheimer's disease; however, familial and psychobiological contributions associated with depression in Alzheimer patients are poorly understood. In this study, we compared family history of depression and alcoholism in 44 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease and 38 aged‐matched cognitively intact controls. Results from comparison showed no overall difference between the occurrence of depression in first‐degree relatives of Alzheimer patients compared to first‐degree relatives of controls. There was, however, significantly lower incidence of alcoholism in relatives of Alzheimer patients, particularly male relatives (p<0.05). This finding suggests that family history and depression alone may not fully explain the high rate of depression in Alzheimer patients and that other factors including neurochemical changes in the brains of Alzheimer patients should be considered.