Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2021 Jun 12. doi: 10.1111/acer.14649. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) often co-occurs with increased alcohol consumption (AC) and alcohol use disorder (AUD), however it is unknown whether the same etiologic influences underlying PTSD-AUD comorbidity are those underlying PTSD and AC.
METHODS: This study used large-scale genome wide association study (GWAS) data to test if PTSD and drinks per week [DPW]/AUD are causally related to one another, and if so, if PTSD precedes DPW/AUD and/or vice versa, using Mendelian Randomization on European ancestry GWAS summary statistics from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortia (PGC; PTSD), GWAS & Sequencing Consortium of Alcohol and Nicotine Use (GSCAN; DPW), and Million Veteran Program (MVP; AUD).
RESULTS: PTSD exerted a potentially causal effect on AUD (beta= 0.039, se= 0.014, p= 0.005), but not on DPW (beta= 0.002, se= 0.003, p= 0.414). Additionally, neither DPW (beta= 0.019, se= 0.041, p= 0.637) nor AUD (beta= 8.87×10-4 , se= 0.001, p= 0.441) exerted a causal effect on PTSD.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings are consistent with the self-medication model, in which individuals misuse alcohol as a way of coping with aversive trauma-related symptoms. These findings extend latent and molecular findings of shared and correlated risk between PTSD and alcohol phenotypes. Given the health behaviors associated with these phenotypes, these findings are important in that they suggest groups on which to prioritize prevention efforts. Further, they provide a rationale for future pre-clinical and clinical studies examining the biological mechanisms by which PTSD may impact AUD.
PMID:34120358 | DOI:10.1111/acer.14649
