No associations within LTAA between induced θ oscillations and severity of alcohol abuse, duration of abstinence or the density of the family history of alcohol problems were found. These findings suggest that enhanced θ oscillations in LTAAs might be the result of alcohol abuse beyond a threshold (as was the case for all the LTAAs studied) that is not ameliorated with abstinence from alcohol. The lack of an association with severity of abuse and duration of abstinence also suggests that enhanced θ oscillations might provide an endophenotypic marker of vulnerability to alcoholism, although lack of an association with the family history of alcoholism is not consistent with this conclusion. From the data presented here it is thus not possible to distinguish the effects of predisposition to alcoholism, chronic alcohol abuse and recovery from alcoholism. Given the large differences found, further investigation of induced oscillations in populations of active alcoholics and offspring of alcoholics are planned to investigate this further.
