Alcohol addiction and psychiatric disorders with common genetic foundations

Research: Genetic foundations of alcohol dependence studied

According to health experts, about 1.3 million people in Germany are considered to be alcohol dependent. Mostly alcohol addiction develops slowly over many years. But what makes people drink too much? As has been shown in scientific studies, genes are sometimes responsible for this.

High alcohol consumption endangers your health

Although it is known that high alcohol consumption increases the risk of numerous diseases such as high blood pressure or fatty liver, people in this country drink more than average alcohol. Around 1.3 million people in Germany are even considered alcohol dependent. But how does alcoholism come about? Swedish researchers discovered years ago that alcoholics lack a specific enzyme to control their addiction. German scientists have now investigated the genetic basis of alcohol addiction.

Researchers have found that there are clear genetic links between alcohol dependence and 17 different psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, ADHD and depression. (Image: Rainer Fuhrmann / fotolia.com)

If it is no longer without alcohol

"An alcohol dependency usually develops slowly over many years," writes the Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA) on its portal "Know your limit".

"The signs of a morbid alcohol addiction, however, are clearly visible," it continues.

Symptoms of incipient alcohol dependence are therefore frequent thinking about alcohol, increasing alcohol consumption, family disputes, diminishing performance, potential shortage of money and loss of zest for life.

"Anyone who decides early on to take the problem of alcohol seriously has a good chance of avoiding dependency," say the experts.

But how does addiction come about? In addition to various other causes such as psychological and sociocultural factors, genes also play a role here.

Relationships between alcohol dependence and psychiatric disorders

The susceptibility of a person to becoming addicted to alcohol is also inheritable.

Although this has been known for some time, little is known about the genetic basis of alcohol dependence and its association with other psychiatric disorders.

A group of international scientists with the participation of researchers from the Central Institute for Mental Health (ZI) in Mannheim has now found out for the first time that there are clear genetic connections between alcohol dependence and 17 different psychiatric disorders.

As the ZI writes in a communication, these include schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression and the consumption of cigarettes and cannabis.

The results were published in the journal "Nature Neuroscience".

Data from nearly 15,000 people analyzed

To reach their conclusions, the researchers carried out the largest genome-wide study to date in this research field.

To do so, they analyzed genetic data from nearly 15,000 people with diagnosed alcohol dependence and compared them with data from nearly 38,000 healthy individuals.

The data are from people in Europe and Africa.

Distinction between pathological and non-pathological drinking behavior

In addition, the researchers found that the genetic characteristics of alcohol dependence overlap only partially with those of alcohol consumption.

"This underlines the distinction between pathological and non-pathological drinking behavior", explained Prof. Dr. med. Marcella Rietschel, Director of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry, who was involved in the study.

"The results clearly show that the genetic approach is successful in elucidating relationships that previously could only be suspected," says Rietschel.

"In particular, more detailed examinations of many patients are needed to find out exactly how genetic factors contribute to someone becoming dependent," said Prof. Dr. med. Falk Kiefer, Medical Director of the Department of Dependent Behavior and Addiction Medicine at the ZI.

In this way, the researchers hope to find better ways to strengthen the resilience of those affected. (Ad)