[quote=Rustico][quote=ocrenter][quote=Rustico]OCR, What is the highest occurrence of multi-factorial disease that is not alcoholism?[/quote]
most diseases out there are multi-factorial. it is extremely rare to have a disease coming from a specific cause or specific genetic mutation.[/quote]
Playing devils advocate and fishing for the for the frequency of other “multi-factorial” diseases in families. The occurrence is extremely high for combination of alcoholics, chain smoking, drug addicts, eating disorders etc. in the same family. We see things like cleft pallate occuring but much less frequently. We even see entire sibling groups as serious alcoholics pretty often. I am not sure but, I don’t think even asthma afflicts whole families nearly as often as these substance problems? What is the explanation?[/quote]
mood disorders tend to run in families as well. and families filled with folks with “issues” tend to be more stressful. these folks are also more likely to abuse and find ways to self-medicate. then you have the fact that addictive personalities are likely to run in families too.
but then so does hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, colon cancer… all of these are extremely common problems that can run in families but are still very much multi-factorial.
let’s face it, “poly-genetic and multi-factorial” is more the rule rather than the exception. Just like in this world, “shades of gray” is more the rule rather than “black vs white.”
