Today’s substance use prevention efforts ignore individual genetic risk, but Rutgers research suggests DNA test results may eventually enhance prevention and treatment and improve outcomes.

Investigators recruited 325 college students, provided them with various levels of data about alcohol use disorder and the way genetics affect addiction risk and asked them how they’d react to learning that they had high, medium and low genetic tendencies toward alcoholism.

The outcomes provided two significant supports for eventually using real genetic risk scores in actual addiction prevention efforts. First, participants understood what those scores indicated; they recognized that higher genetic risk scores meant a better likelihood of developing alcohol problems. Second, most participants said they’d drink less and take other steps to forestall addiction if actual scores showed high risk.

“There are a number of steps between the invention of addiction-related genes and the effective use of genetic information in prevention and treatment,” said Danielle Dick, director of the Rutgers Addiction Research Center and senior creator of the study published within the American Journal of Medical Genetics. “This trial paves the best way for studies using real genetic data and for integrating genetic information into prevention and intervention efforts.”

Adoption and twin studies indicate addiction risk is roughly half genetic, Dick said, but there is no single addiction gene that is either present or absent. As a substitute, there are millions of interacting genes, so every person’s genetic risk falls somewhere on a continuum.

Risk is not distributed evenly along that continuum: It’s distributed in a bell curve. A small number of individuals have high or low genetic risk (on the tail ends of the curve), but most individuals fall in the midst of the curve, she said. Knowing one’s level of genetic risk may also help people make the perfect selections for his or her health and well-being. Individuals at higher genetic risk usually tend to develop problems with alcohol use, in order that they can take precautionary steps with their substance use.

Despite the relative complexity of the danger calculation, study participants formed relatively accurate impressions of the danger for addiction related to various genetic results. Future research will investigate whether other populations understand risk scores in addition to the faculty students on this trial.

One other necessary finding was that individuals reported they’d experience moderate distress in the event that they learned they were at high genetic risk for addiction. This means that providers must be mindful of find out how to return high-risk genetic results and consider accompanying this information with counseling. Encouragingly, as individuals received increasing levels of genetic risk, additionally they reported greater intentions to hunt additional information, comparable to talking with a healthcare provider and fascinating in harm reduction practices.

Overall, the outcomes strongly encourage the notion that real genetic risk scores may prove helpful in stopping and treating alcohol addiction. Comprehension of test results was high. Psychological distress remained at manageable levels. The overwhelming majority of people indicated that they’d take motion to cut back their risk in the event that they learned they were at elevated genetic risk, and, fortunately, there was no indication that folks would interpret low-risk scores as an invite to take fewer precautions.”

Danielle Dick, Director, Rutgers Addiction Research Center

Dick emphasized we still know little about how real-world genetic information will affect real-world behavior. Most known addiction genes were discovered up to now few years, and plenty of more remain to be discovered. No industrial genetic testing service provides details about addiction risk, so only a few people have ever received real details about their genetic tendency toward addiction. What’s more, stated intentions often differ from subsequent actions.

“There was a hope that compelling details about elevated genetic risk would get people to vary behavior, but we’ve not seen that occur for other facets of health,” Dick said. “Initial studies suggest that receiving genetic feedback for heart disease, lung cancer, and diabetes doesn’t get people to vary their behavior. Getting people to change their behavior is difficult. Providing them with good risk information is just step one. We then need to attach individuals to resources and support to assist them reduce risk. That is what my team is currently working on — helping people understand their addiction risk and the way they’ll reduce that risk and avoid developing problems.”

Source:

Journal reference:

Driver, M. N., et al. (2023) The impact of receiving polygenic risk scores for alcohol use disorder on psychological distress, risk perception, and intentions to cut back drinking. American Journal of Medical Genetics. doi.org/10.1002/ajmg.b.32933.