Among the 96 alcoholics, the average age of onset of alcoholism was 24.2 ± 8.7 years (range = 12 to 48 years) and the average length of alcoholism was 23.6 ± 11.6 years (range = 3 to 51 years). Alcoholics drank an average of 1318±1007 kg of alcohol over their lifetimes (range = 176 to 4711 kg), whereas controls drank significantly less, at an average of 24±33 kg of alcohol over their lifetimes (range 0 to 136 kg). Duration of abstinence was 16 weeks (sd= 16 weeks, range 1 to 746 days). No ALC participant reported ever being diagnosed with Wernicke’s encephalopathy or met criteria for alcohol-induced persisting amnestic disorder.
