Association of substance use disorders with childhood trauma but not African genetic heritage in an African American cohort - PubMed (original) (raw)

Comparative Study

Association of substance use disorders with childhood trauma but not African genetic heritage in an African American cohort

Francesca Ducci et al. Am J Psychiatry. 2009 Sep.

Abstract

Objective: Genetic variation influences differential vulnerability to addiction within populations. However, it remains unclear whether differences in frequencies of vulnerability alleles contribute to disparities between populations and to what extent ancestry correlates with differential exposure to environmental risk factors, including poverty and trauma.

Method: The authors used 186 ancestry-informative markers to measure African ancestry in 407 addicts and 457 comparison subjects self-identified as African Americans. The reference group was 1,051 individuals from the Human Genome Diversity Cell Line Panel, which includes 51 diverse populations representing most worldwide genetic diversity.

Results: African Americans varied in degrees of African, European, Middle Eastern, and Central Asian genetic heritage. The overall level of African ancestry was actually smaller among cocaine, opiate, and alcohol addicts (proportion=0.76-0.78) than nonaddicted African American comparison subjects (proportion=0.81). African ancestry was associated with living in impoverished neighborhoods, a factor previously associated with risk. There was no association between African ancestry and exposure to childhood abuse or neglect, a factor that strongly predicted all types of addictions.

Conclusions: These results suggest that African genetic heritage does not increase the likelihood of genetic risk for addictions. They highlight the complex interrelation between genetic ancestry and social, economic, and environmental conditions and the strong relation of those factors to addiction. Studies of epidemiological samples characterized for genetic ancestry and social, psychological, demographic, economic, cultural, and historical factors are needed to better disentangle the effects of genetic and environmental factors underlying interpopulation differences in vulnerability to addiction and other health disparities.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1

FIGURE 1

Genetic Ancestry of 864 African American Patients With Substance Dependence and Comparison Subjectsa

FIGURE 2

FIGURE 2

Individual and Group Levels of Genetic Ancestry From Seven Populations for 407 African American Patients With Substance Dependence and 457 Comparison Subjects

FIGURE 3

FIGURE 3

Relation of Childhood Abuse or Neglecta to Cocaine, Opiate, and Alcohol Dependence in 310 African American Patients With Substance Use Disorders and 180 Comparison Subjects

FIGURE 4

FIGURE 4

Lack of Relationship Between African Ancestry and Scores for Childhood Abuse or Neglect in 310 African American Patients With Substance Dependence and 180 Comparison Subjects

FIGURE 5

FIGURE 5

Relation of African Ancestry to Measurements of Neighborhood Socioeconomic Statusa for 228 African American Patients With Cocaine Dependence

Comment in

References

    1. Foster MW, Sharp RR. Race, ethnicity, and genomics: social classifications as proxies of biological heterogeneity. Genome Res. 2002;12:844–850. - PubMed
    1. Foster MW, Sharp RR. Beyond race: towards a whole-genome perspective on human populations and genetic variation. Nat Rev Genet. 2004;5:790–796. - PubMed
    1. Goldman D, Oroszi G, Ducci F. The genetics of addictions: uncovering the genes. Nat Rev Genet. 2005;6:521–532. - PubMed
    1. Fejerman L, John EM, Huntsman S, Beckman K, Choudhry S, Perez-Stable E, Burchard EG, Ziv E. Genetic ancestry and risk of breast cancer among US Latinas. Cancer Res. 2008;68:9723–9728. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ensminger ME, Anthony JC, McCord J. The inner city and drug use: initial findings from an epidemiological study. Drug Alcohol Depend. 1997;48:175–184. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources