Risk for alcoholism and developmental defects of specific brain structures: a MR morphometric study

Children of alcoholics are known to have a variety of cognitive deficits that are thought to make them more vulnerable to early alcohol related problems. A single study has found lowered volume of the right amygdala in these children relative to controls. We measured the volume of the cerebrum, amygdala and the hippocampus in 22 children of early onset alcoholics with strong family loading [HR: high risk] and age and sex matched controls [LR: low risk]. The HR subjects had significantly lower volumes of amygdala and hippocampus bilaterally but did not differ from the LR group in total cerebral volume.