Variation of types of alcoholism: Review and subtypes identified in Han Chinese

•The typology of alcoholism reduces heterogeneity in research and practice.•Exploration of genetic underpining in subtyped alcoholism is overlooked.•Different subtyped alcoholism might have different pathogenic mechanisms.•We reclassify the subtypes of alcoholism using comorbidity.•Dopamine related genes explored to set up genetic validation of subtyped alcoholism.

Alcoholism, as it has been hypothesized, is caused by a highly heterogeneous genetic load. Since 1960, many reports have used the bio-psycho-social approach to subtype alcoholism; however, no subtypes have been genetically validated. We reviewed and compared the major single-gene, multiple-gene, and gene-to-gene interaction studies on alcoholism published during the past quarter-century, including many recent studies that have made contributions to the subtyping of alcoholism. Four subtypes of alcoholism have been reported: [1] pure alcoholism, [2] anxiety/depression alcoholism, [3] antisocial alcoholism, and [4] mixed alcoholism. Most of the important studies focused on three genes: DRD2, MAOA, and ALDH2. Therefore, our review focuses on these three genes.