Delirium Tremens (DT) is the most severe form of alcohol withdrawal syndrome, with a potential risk of mortality. Search for the predictors of DT led to study of candidate genes, with inconsistent and inconclusive results. This study aimed to explore the association of various candidate gene polymorphisms and DT in a case-control design.

This was a genetic association study with a case control design. Two hundred ten Alcohol dependent (AD) male subjects and 200 age matched controls were recruited. DT was diagnosed with the help of Semi-structured Assessment for Genetics of Alcoholism. SNP genotyping was done using TaqMan assay by real time PCR (q-PCR).

Results

T allele carrying status (GT and TT) [rs1824024] of muscarinic cholinergic receptor 2 (CHRM2) was found to be significantly associated with DT. When compared to the general population, this genetic polymorphism was not found to be more common in alcohol dependence per se, which excludes the possibility of spurious association between CHRM2 and DT. Withdrawal seizure was more common in the DT group and came out to be one of the important predictors of DT. However, the genetic association was found to be specific for DT, not related to withdrawal seizures.