In a clinical trial of sertraline for alcohol dependence, Kranzler et al. (2011) used the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID, First et al. 2001) to ascertain age of onset (early ≤ 25 years vs. late > 25 years) of alcohol dependence. This study showed differential effects of sertraline that were dependent upon the combination of age of onset and genotype (5-HTTLPR, S′ carriers vs. L′ homozygotes). They found that age of onset of alcohol dependence moderated the response to sertraline in L′ homozygotes, but not in S′ allele carriers. Among L′ homozygotes LOAs reported fewer drinking and heavy drinking days when treated with sertraline than placebo and EOAs showed the opposite effect.
