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Investigating Drivers of Antireward in Addiction Behavior with Anatomically Specific Single-Cell Gene Expression Methods
Published on: August 4, 2022
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Shared genetic and environmental etiology between substance use disorders and suicidal behavior
Alexis C Edwards1, Henrik Ohlsson2, Séverine Lannoy1
1Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA.
Psychological Medicine
|June 13, 2023
Summary
Shared genetic and environmental factors link substance use disorders (SUD) with suicidal behavior. Understanding these links is crucial for developing joint prevention and intervention strategies for alcohol use disorders (AUD) and drug use disorders (DUD).
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Genetics
- Public Health
Background:
- Substance use disorders (SUD) are significantly associated with suicidal behavior.
- The interplay between genetic and environmental factors in this comorbidity requires further empirical investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify the extent to which shared genetic and environmental factors contribute to the association between alcohol use disorders (AUD) or drug use disorders (DUD) and suicidal behavior (attempt and death).
Main Methods:
- Utilized Swedish national registry data for a large twin and sibling cohort (N = 1,314,990).
- Employed twin-sibling modeling to estimate genetic and environmental correlations between AUD/DUD and suicide attempt (SA) or suicide death (SD).
Main Results:
- Substantial genetic correlations (rA = 0.60-0.88) were found between SA and SUD.
- Shared environmental factors (rC = 0.42-0.89) also contributed, with unique environmental factors (rE = 0.42-0.57).
- Similar correlations were observed for suicide death (SD), with higher shared environmental influence (rC = 0.92-1.00).
Conclusions:
- Shared genetic and unique environmental factors underlie the comorbidity of suicidal behavior and SUD.
- Each condition should be viewed as a risk indicator for the others.
- Joint prevention and intervention strategies may be feasible, despite the polygenic nature of these outcomes.
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