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Cross-generational transmission of genetic risk for alcohol and drug use disorders: the impact of substance availability on the specificity of genetic risk

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2022

Kenneth S. Kendler Open the ORCID record for Kenneth S. Kendler [Opens in a new window] ,
Linda Abrahamsson ,
Henrik Ohlsson ,
Jan Sundquist  and
Kristina Sundquist
Kenneth S. Kendler*
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
Linda Abrahamsson
Affiliation:
Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
Henrik Ohlsson
Affiliation:
Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
Jan Sundquist
Affiliation:
Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Department of Population Health Science and Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
Kristina Sundquist
Affiliation:
Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Department of Population Health Science and Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Kenneth S. Kendler, E-mail: Kenneth.Kendler@vcuhealth.org
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Abstract

Background

Among individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and drug use disorder (DUD), is their genetic liability and its specificity moderated by substance availability?

Methods

Offspring (born 1960–1995) and their biological parents from three family types [not-lived-with (NLW) biological father, mother and adoptive] and their AUD and DUD diagnoses were ascertained from Swedish national registers. Parent–offspring resemblance was calculated by tetrachoric correlation.

Results

In Swedes born from 1960 to 1995, prevalence rates of AUD were stable while DUD rates increased substantially. Best-estimate tetrachoric correlations (±95% confidence intervals) between AUD in biological parents and AUD and DUD in their offspring were, respectively, +0.19 (0.18–0.20) and +0.18 (0.17–0.20). Parallel results from DUD in parents to AUD and DUD in children were +0.12 (0.10–0.13) and +0.27 (0.26–0.28). When divided into older and younger cohorts, the specificity of DUD transmission increased substantially over time, while the genetic correlation between AUD and DUD significantly decreased.

Conclusions

Raised when alcohol was the preferred substance of abuse and illicit drugs highly stigmatized, AUD in parents reflected a general liability to substance use disorders, as they transmitted similar genetic risk for AUD and DUD to their children raised when both substances were widely available and relatively acceptable. DUD in parents, by contrast, reflected a more specific liability to DUD and, when transmitted to offspring, produced a considerably stronger risk for DUD than for AUD that increased over time. The magnitude and specificity of the genetic liability to psychoactive substances can be influenced by the availability of that substance.

Keywords

Adoption studyalcohol use disorderdrug use disorderimpact of drug availabilityparent–offspring transmission
Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 53 , Issue 11 , August 2023 , pp. 5109 - 5118
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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