Sister chromatid exchanges in lymphocytes of normal and alcoholic subjects.

The effects of alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking and age on sister chromatid exchange (SCE) frequency in human lymphocytes were assessed by means of multiple linear regression. An increase in SCE rates was associated with alcohol consumption (p = 0.0001), smoking (p = 0.0231), and, to a small extent (p = 0.057), age. These three confounding factors explain 48% of the inter-personal variation in SCE rates among subjects studied.