Author: Gary Jackson

Nature vs Nurture: Is Alcohol Use Disorder in Our Genes?

Here, the control adoptees have been assigned a risk of 1 because they are the group against which the other groups in the study are measured. A risk ratio of 3.6 for adopted-away sons of alcoholics thus means that that group is 3.6 times as likely as the control adoptees to become alcoholic. This study used birth records and Temperance Board registration data to identify alcoholic male twins from Skåne, Sweden.

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Other factors, such as friend groups and level of financial security, may be subject to change. Having a close family relative, such as a parent, can account for up to 60% of your risk of developing AUD. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition, text revision (DSM-5-TR), a clinical diagnostic guidebook, indicates that AUD often runs in families at a rate of 3–4 times higher compared with the general population.

Candidate gene studies of AUD and related traits

There is a growing body of scientific evidence that shows alcoholism has a genetic component. According to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, children of alcoholics are four times more likely than other children to become alcoholics. The only recent United States adoption studies on alcoholism for which results have been published are those conducted by Cadoret in Iowa. The fact that only one investigator has been able to conduct such studies may reflect the high degree of tenacity required to overcome State privacy regulations restricting access to information about the biological families of adoptees. In his earliest studies, Cadoret studied samples from Lutheran Social Services (LSS) (Cadoret et al. 1985; Cadoret 1994) and Iowa Children and Family Services (CFS) (Cadoret 1994; Cadoret et al. 1987). More recently, he has also studied samples recruited from a series of Catholic Adoption Agencies (CAA) (Cadoret 1994; Cadoret et al. 1995; Cutrona et al. 1994) and from four other adoption agencies (Cadoret 1994).

  1. The impact of genes on behavior like alcohol use or even sexual orientation has long been the subject of scientific debate.
  2. With a better understanding of the different components that can contribute to alcoholism, more personalized treatment could cater to the individual.
  3. “Using genomics, we can create a data-driven pipeline to prioritize existing medications for further study and improve chances of discovering new treatments.

Substances

Cadoret’s study of four adoption agencies (Cadoret 1994; Cadoret et al. 1995) has yielded a high estimate of the genetic contribution to variability in alcoholism risk, which does not differ significantly from a probability of 100 percent (i.e., complete heritability). How can results across different studies or even within studies (e.g., between men and women) be compared? Risk-ratio estimates cannot simply be pooled because of differences in the estimated rates of alcoholism. Estimates of the prevalence of alcoholism are highly variable, depending on how alcoholism is defined.

Health Topics: Genetics and Alcohol Use Disorder

In Finland, Koskenvuo and colleagues (1984) conducted such a match using only an alcoholism discharge code and found a significantly higher risk ratio for male MZ than for male DZ twins of males hospitalized for alcoholism (i.e., 11.8 versus 5.5). In Sweden, Allgulander and colleagues (1991, 1992) performed a similar match of the Swedish twin registry to alcohol-related discharge codes; these data again showed an elevated risk ratio in MZ, compared with DZ, male twins (i.e., 7.9 versus 5.3), although again the difference was not significant. For women, Koskenvuo and colleagues (1984) found no same-sex twin pairs in which both twins had an alcoholism discharge code, making it impossible to estimate a risk ratio. Allgulander and colleagues (1991, 1992) found substantial risk ratios for MZ and DZ female twins of female alcoholics (i.e., 41.9 and 16.5, respectively), but again these do not differ significantly. According to the findings, 8.9 percent of the fathers and 1.6 percent of the mothers who gave their offspring up for adoption had been hospitalized for alcoholism. Heath and colleagues (in press) estimated that the proportion of all adults in the population of Copenhagen who were in the same age range as the biological parents and who had been hospitalized for alcoholism at some stage in their lives was 2 percent for men and 0.5 percent for women.

Your genetics can influence how likely you are to develop AUD, but there’s currently no evidence of a specific gene that directly causes AUD once you start drinking. The researchers believe that even larger studies may help to differentiate the genetics behind alcohol addiction. Alcohol use disorder, more commonly known as alcoholism, is characterized by an inability to control ones drinking because of a physical or emotional dependence of alcohol.

The Initial Study

Fourth, an apparent cross-cultural difference in the importance of genetic influences on alcoholism risk is evident from these data, which, if confirmed, would be an important example of gene-environment interaction. The data raise the possibility that, at least in men, genetic factors may have a reduced impact on alcoholism risk in some environments (e.g., Scandinavian) compared with other environments (e.g., U.S.). However, this could be an artifact of differences in research methodology, as no studies led by the same investigators and using a common research methodology have been conducted in both Scandinavia and the United States. The purpose of the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) is to advance knowledge about the complex influences of gene and environment on development and progression of alcohol use disorder (AUD). From its inception, COGA has generated and utilized extensive arrays of genotypic and phenotypic data from families densely affected by AUD and from comparison families to identify genes and understand their role in susceptibility to (or protection from) developing AUD and related phenotypes.

If growing up in the environment of an alcoholic parent contributes significantly to alcoholism risk, this risk should be higher in the nonadopted sons and daughters of alcoholics, compared with the adopted-away sons and daughters. The inclusion of data from different ancestral groups in this study cannot and should not be used to assign or categorize variable genetic risk for substance use disorder to specific populations. As genetic information is used to better understand human health and health inequities, expansive and inclusive data collection is essential.

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a diagnosis once referred to as “alcoholism.” It’s a condition characterized by patterns of excessive alcohol misuse despite negative consequences and major distress in important areas of daily function. These findings are important for researchers because of similar overlap with other addictive behavior, said lead researcher Prof. Abraham Palmer. By Buddy TBuddy T is a writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism. Because he is a member of a support group that stresses the importance of anonymity at the public level, he does not use his photograph or his real name on this website. This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.