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Differences in genetic correlations between posttraumatic stress disorder and alcohol-related problems phenotypes compared to alcohol consumption-related phenotypes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2022

Kaitlin E. Bountress Open the ORCID record for Kaitlin E. Bountress [Opens in a new window] ,
Daniel Bustamante ,
Stacey Subbie-Saenz de Viteri ,
Chris Chatzinakos ,
Christina Sheerin ,
Nikolaos P. Daskalakis ,
Howard J. Edenberg ,
Roseann E. Peterson ,
Bradley T. Webb  and
Jackie Meyers
...Show all authors
Kaitlin E. Bountress*
Affiliation:
VIPBG. VCU, Richmond, VA, USA
Daniel Bustamante
Affiliation:
VIPBG. VCU, Richmond, VA, USA ILS, VCU, Richmond, VA, USA
Stacey Subbie-Saenz de Viteri
Affiliation:
SUNY Downstate, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Chris Chatzinakos
Affiliation:
VIPBG. VCU, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, USA
Christina Sheerin
Affiliation:
VIPBG. VCU, Richmond, VA, USA
Nikolaos P. Daskalakis
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, USA
Howard J. Edenberg
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Roseann E. Peterson
Affiliation:
VIPBG. VCU, Richmond, VA, USA SUNY Downstate, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Bradley T. Webb
Affiliation:
GenOmics, Bioinformatics, and Translational Research Center, Biostatistics and Epidemiology Division, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
Jackie Meyers
Affiliation:
SUNY Downstate, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Ananda Amstadter
Affiliation:
VIPBG. VCU, Richmond, VA, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Kaitlin E. Bountress, E-mail: kaitlin.bountress@vcuhealth.org
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Abstract

Background

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) tends to co-occur with greater alcohol consumption as well as alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, it is unknown whether the same etiologic factors that underlie PTSD-alcohol-related problems comorbidity also contribute to PTSD- alcohol consumption.

Methods

We used summary statistics from large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of European-ancestry (EA) and African-ancestry (AA) participants to estimate genetic correlations between PTSD and a range of alcohol consumption-related and alcohol-related problems phenotypes.

Results

In EAs, there were positive genetic correlations between PTSD phenotypes and alcohol-related problems phenotypes (e.g. Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) problem score) (rGs: 0.132−0.533, all FDR adjusted p < 0.05). However, the genetic correlations between PTSD phenotypes and alcohol consumption -related phenotypes (e.g. drinks per week) were negatively associated or non-significant (rGs: −0.417 to −0.042, FDR adjusted p: <0.05-NS). For AAs, the direction of correlations was sometimes consistent and sometimes inconsistent with that in EAs, and the ranges were larger (rGs for alcohol-related problems: −0.275 to 0.266, FDR adjusted p: NS, alcohol consumption-related: 0.145–0.699, FDR adjusted p: NS).

Conclusions

These findings illustrate that the genetic associations between consumption and problem alcohol phenotypes and PTSD differ in both strength and direction. Thus, the genetic factors that may lead someone to develop PTSD and high levels of alcohol consumption are not the same as those that lead someone to develop PTSD and alcohol-related problems. Discussion around needing improved methods to better estimate heritabilities and genetic correlations in diverse and admixed ancestry samples is provided.

Keywords

Alcohol consumptionalcohol use disordergenetic correlationposttraumatic stress disorder
Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 53 , Issue 12 , September 2023 , pp. 5767 - 5777
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

*

Indicates joint first authorship.

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