The Influence of Gene–Environment Interactions on the Development of Alcoholism and Drug Dependence

Alcoholism is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in today’s society. Of 43,093 US adults surveyed for prevalence of lifetime DSM-IV alcohol dependence or abuse, 12.5% women, and 17.8% of men showed prevalence. In terms of alcohol use disorders, it is twice as common in men as it is in women, however with most drug disorders, the prevalence is similar. The features of addiction are loss of control over consumption, obsessive thoughts about the drug, and continuation of abuse despite negative consequences. Mostly established through twin studies, the effects of hereditability and environment on the onset of alcohol abuse disorders were assessed.  Studies showed that early-life stress was a nonspecific predictor of multiple types of pathological behaviors, including early-onset adolescent drinking and adult alcohol abuse disorders. Many studies have shown a repeatedly demonstrated link between documented childhood stressors and alcohol use and drug disorders. A study of 900 children showed that court-documented cases of childhood abuse and maltreatment provided a common predictor for the development of alcohol disorders in women, but not men. A history of parental addiction has also shown to act as a strong predictor for the onset of adult alcohol and drug use in their offspring and is associated with an increase in the severity of symptoms.  Twin studies suggest that there may be two pathways for genetic influence on the development of alcohol use disorders: an early onset pathway that is driven by genetic risk of externalizing disorders and an adult onset pathway driven by genetic risk factors that are specific to alcohol abuse. It was shown that at 17 years of age, genetic factors become more important as accurate predictors of externalizing the alcohol related disorders. The gene -environment effects have been related to stress and anxiety related genes that were typically coincided with childhood stressors and depression phenotypes.  The specific genes studied, in the future, could potentially act as a predictor to determine the potential of the onset of these disorders and possibly allow for the prevention of abuse.

Source: The Influence of Gene–Environment Interactions on the Development of Alcoholism and Drug Dependence : Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2012 April ; 14(2): 150–158. doi:10.1007/s11920-011-0252-9.