Contrasting with results from clinical studies (Randall et al., 1999), but consistent with recent studies using community samples, we generally found few gender differences in the course of AD in men and women (Keyes et al., 2010). One exception was the interval between the age at first drink and the age at heavy drinking, which occurred at a slightly shorter period in women. This may represent a period of gender- specific vulnerability. In spite of this, there appeared to be few other gender differences in the clinical course of AD. In the past, there was evidence that women had an accelerated clinical course of AD, but these results were derived from treatment samples (Randall et al., 1999). Telescoping may be demonstrated in treatment samples because they are more likely to feature individuals with the most severe manifestations of AD. In contrast, the NESARC sample is not restricted to the most severe cases of AD, but rather is representative of the population of individuals with AD as a whole. The differences in severity of AD between treatment samples and the NESARC
