Alcohol dependence (AD) is a chronic but often disease that includes problems in controlling one's drinking, being preoccupied with alcohol, continuing to use alcohol even when it causes problems, having to drink more to get the same effect (physical dependence), or having withdrawal symptoms when one rapidly decreases or stops drinking. The contribution of genetic factors to the development of AD is high. The best classical candidate genes for AD are alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). Both genes are involved in enzymatic degradation of alcohol. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have reported that the most robust associations for AD have been with such enzyme genes, especially ALDH2 in East Asian populations and ADH1B in European American and African American populations.
Category
Mental and behavioural disorder
Brite
Human diseases in ICD-11 classification [BR:br08403]
06 Mental, behavioural or neurodevelopmental disorders
Disorders due to substance use or addictive behaviours
Disorders due to substance use
6C40 Disorders due to use of alcohol
H01611 Alcohol dependence
Prescott CA, Sullivan PF, Kuo PH, Webb BT, Vittum J, Patterson DG, Thiselton DL, Myers JM, Devitt M, Halberstadt LJ, Robinson VP, Neale MC, van den Oord EJ, Walsh D, Riley BP, Kendler KS
Title
Genomewide linkage study in the Irish affected sib pair study of alcohol dependence: evidence for a susceptibility region for symptoms of alcohol dependence on chromosome 4.
