Unlocking the risk of addiction: genetic testing could shape future prevention strategies

Summary: A new study hints at the potential for using genetic test results to improve drug prevention and treatment strategies. The study involved 325 college students who were given varying levels of information regarding alcohol use disorders and the role of genetics in addiction risk.

Researchers found that participants generally understood what genetic risk scores indicated and agreed that they would be more likely to take addiction precautionary measures if they were found to have a high-risk score. .

The findings support the idea of ​​incorporating true genetic risk scores into future drug abuse prevention efforts.

Highlights:

1. Researchers at Rutgers University found that college students generally understood the implications of genetic risk scores for addiction.
2. The majority of participants said they would adjust their behaviors, such as reducing their alcohol consumption, if their scores showed a high risk for addiction.
3. The results support the potential role of actual genetic risk scores in improving addiction prevention and treatment strategies.

Source: Rutgers University

Current substance use prevention efforts ignore individual genetic risk, but Rutgers research suggests that DNA test results could eventually improve prevention and treatment and improve outcomes.

Investigators recruited 325 college students, provided them with varying levels of information about alcohol use disorders and how genetics affect addiction risk, and asked them how they would react upon learning they had high, medium and low genetic tendencies to alcoholism.

The results provided two important building blocks for eventually using true genetic risk scores in real-world drug prevention efforts.

First, participants understood what these scores indicated; they recognized that higher genetic risk scores meant a higher likelihood of developing alcohol problems.

Second, most participants said they would drink less and take other steps to prevent addiction if actual scores showed high risk.

“There are a lot of steps between discovering addiction-related genes and effectively using genetic information in prevention and treatment,” said Danielle Dick, director of the Rutgers Addiction Research Center and lead author of the study published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics.

“This trial paves the way for studies using real genetic data and the integration of genetic information into prevention and intervention efforts.”

Adoption and twin studies indicate that addiction risk is about half genetic, Dick said, but there is no single addiction gene present or absent. Instead, there are thousands of interacting genes, so each person’s genetic risk is somewhere on a continuum.

Risk is not distributed evenly along this continuum: it is distributed on a bell curve. A small number of people are at high or low genetic risk (at the ends of the curve), but most people are in the middle of the curve, she said.

Knowing your level of genetic risk can help people make the best choices for their health and well-being. People at higher genetic risk are more likely to develop alcohol use problems, so they can take precautionary measures with their substance use.

Despite the relative complexity of calculating risk, study participants formed relatively accurate impressions of the risk of addiction associated with various genetic outcomes. Future research will determine if other populations understand risk scores as well as college students in this trial.

Another important finding was that individuals said they would experience moderate distress if they learned they were at high genetic risk for addiction. This suggests that providers should be mindful of how to return high-risk genetic results and consider accompanying this information with counseling.

Encouragingly, as individuals exhibited increasing levels of genetic risk, they also reported greater intentions to seek additional information, such as speaking with a healthcare provider and engaging in harm reduction practices. misdeeds.

“Overall, the results strongly encourage the idea that true genetic risk scores may prove useful in the prevention and treatment of alcohol dependence,” Dick said.

“The understanding of the test results was high. Psychological distress remained at manageable levels. The vast majority of individuals indicated that they would take action to reduce their risk if they learned they were at high genetic risk and, fortunately, there was no evidence that people would interpret low risk scores as an invitation to take fewer precautions. ”

Dick pointed out that we still know little about how real-world genetic information will affect real-world behavior. Most of the known addiction genes have been discovered in the past few years, with many more yet to be discovered.

No commercial genetic testing service provides information about addiction risk, so very few people have ever received authentic information about their genetic addiction tendency. Moreover, stated intentions often differ from subsequent actions.

“There was hope that convincing information about high genetic risk would cause people to change their behavior, but we haven’t seen that happen for other aspects of health,” Dick said.

“Early studies suggest that receiving genetic feedback for heart disease, lung cancer and diabetes does not influence people to change their behavior. Getting people to change their behavior is difficult.

“Providing them with good risk information is only the first step. We then need to connect individuals to resources and support to help them reduce risk.

“That’s what my team is currently working on – helping people understand their addiction risk And how they can reduce this risk and avoid developing problems.

About this genetics and addictions research news

Author: Andre Smith
Source: Rutgers University
Contact: Andrew Smith – Rutgers University
Picture: Image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original research: Free access.
“The impact of obtaining polygenic risk scores for alcohol use disorder on psychological distress, risk perception, and intentions to reduce alcohol consumption” by Danielle Dick et al. American Journal of Medical Genetics

Abstract

The impact of obtaining polygenic risk scores for alcohol use disorder on psychological distress, risk perception, and intentions to reduce alcohol consumption

For the return of polygenic risk scores to become acceptable clinical practice in psychiatry, the receipt of polygenic risk scores must be associated with minimal harm and behavioral changes that decrease the risk of developing a psychiatric outcome.

Data from a randomized controlled trial were used to assess the impact of different levels of hypothetical polygenic risk scores for alcohol use disorders on psychological distress, risk perception, and intentions to change behaviors. alcohol-related behaviors.

The analytical sample consisted of 325 participants recruited from an urban public university.

The results demonstrated that there was a significant increase in psychological distress as the level of genetic risk for alcohol use disorder increased. Moreover, the perceived risk of developing an alcohol use disorder increased significantly as the level of genetic risk increased.

Promisingly, a greater proportion of participants indicated that they would plan to engage in follow-up behaviors, such as seeking additional information, talking to a healthcare provider about risk, and reducing drinking behaviors. of alcohol, as the level of genetic risk increased.

Returning polygenic risk scores for alcohol use disorders to a clinical setting has the potential to promote risk-reducing behavior change, especially with increasing levels of genetic risk.

The study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (ID: NCT05143073).