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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Alcohol Consumption Indices of Genetic Risk for Alcohol Dependence
Biological Psychiatry Article in Press, 3 July 2009

Genetic influences accounted for 30%–51% of the variance in the alcohol measures and genetic correlations were .90 or higher for all measures, with the correlation between consumption and dependence symptoms among nondependent individuals estimated at .97 (95% confidence interval: .80–1.00).

Heaviness of consumption and AD symptoms have a high degree of genetic overlap even among nondependent individuals in the general population, implying that genetic influences on dependence risk in the general population are acting to a considerable degree through heaviness of use and that quantitative measures of consumption will likely have a useful role in the identification of genes contributing to AD.


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