Commentary: Perspectives on alcohol-related gene and environment interplay in diverse populations

Racial/ethnic groups comprise more than 20% of the U.S. population, but many experience disproportionately high risk for alcohol misuse, often resulting in higher rates of alcohol-associated consequences. Completion of mapping the human genome has launched rapidly evolving research methods aimed at improved understanding of genetic contribution to disease. Despite decades of research on the influence of genetic and environmental risks on alcohol use disorders and outcomes, few studies have included racial/ethnic subpopulations in sufficient numbers to allow for proper statistical analysis.

The papers in this special issue help to elucidate current knowledge on the etiology of genetic and environmental contributors and potential moderators of alcohol use and associated problems among racial/ethnic populations. The lack of racial/ethnic diversity across many genetic studies contributes to challenges in interpretation of findings and eventually applications to precision medicine.

Proposed approaches to overcome disparities in racial/ethnic participant recruitment in genetic studies include methods to address population stratification in allele frequency, improve transparency in subjects' consenting to participate, and engaging interdisciplinary research teams and community involvement to improve recruitment of racial/ethnic minorities.

The reviews presented underscore various gaps in our knowledge of the genetic influences on alcohol use disorders due to the failure to include racially and ethnically diverse populations in genetic and epigenetic study samples. New directions are suggested to overcome the resulting research challenges and ultimately to inform future personalized intervention approaches for racial/ethnic populations.

Inclusion of heterogeneous populations in genomic research will provide a better comprehension of possible unique genetic factors in the broader general population that may be missed due to exclusion of unique and common variants that may be present in racial/ethnic populations. (Am J Addict 2017;26:526-531).