Participants in the Irish Affected Sibpair Study of Alcohol Dependence (IASPSAD) were recruited in Ireland and Northern Ireland between 1998 and 2002. Further details of the study design, sample ascertainment, and clinical characteristics of this sample are described elsewhere16. In brief, ascertainment of probands was mainly conducted in community alcoholism treatment facilities and public and private hospitals. Probands were eligible for study inclusion if they met the current DSM-IV criteria (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) for AD and if all four grandparents had been born in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales or England. After a prospective family was identified through a proband, parents and potentially affected siblings whom the probands provided permission to contact were recruited.
