The aim of the study was to clarify whether impaired postural control in chronic alcoholics is a dose dependent phenomenon or not.We investigated 82 patients with chronic alcoholism. All patients underwent an inpatient withdrawal therapy and had finished organic withdrawal at least two weeks prior to this investigation. The posturographic measurements were performed on a force measuring platform (Toennies Medical Electronics, Freiburg, FRG) with eyes open as well as with eyes closed. Body sway was quantified by four sway parameters; sway path, sway area, antero-posterior sway and lateral sway. The control group consisted of 54 healthy subjects matched for age and sex.The posturographic measurements revealed normal findings in 32 patients (39.0%) and pathological results in 50 (61.0%). Antero-posterior sway was the most important parameter and was increased with eyes open and even more pronounced with eyes closed in more than 50% of the patients. Pathological posturographic results correlated positively with the estimated lifetime consumption of alcohol, but not with the dose of alcohol consumed during a period of six months before admission for alcohol withdrawal therapy.Our study demonstrates that chronic alcoholism is associated with impaired postural control in more than 60% of the patients and it suggests that this impairment is a dose-related toxic effect of alcohol.