Polygenic risk scores for alcohol involvement relate to brain structure in substance-naïve children: Results from the ABCD study

• Published in: Genes, brain and behavior brain and behavior, 2021-06, Vol.20 (6), p.e12756-e12756
• Main Authors: Hatoum, Alexander S, Johnson, Emma C, Baranger, David A A, Paul, Sarah E, Agrawal, Arpana, Bogdan, Ryan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1601-1848; 1601-183X
• DOI: 10.1111/gbb.12756

Brain imaging-derived structural correlates of alcohol involvement have largely been speculated to arise as a consequence of alcohol exposure. However, they may also reflect predispositional risk. In substance naïve children of European ancestry who completed the baseline session of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (n = 3013), mixed-effects models estimated whether polygenic risk scores (PRS) for problematic alcohol use (PAU-PRS) and drinks per week (DPW-PRS) are associated with magnetic resonance imaging-derived brain structure phenotypes (i.e., total and regional: cortical thickness, surface area and volume; subcortical volume; white matter volume, fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity). Follow-up analyses evaluated whether any identified regions were also associated with polygenic risk among substance naïve children of African ancestry (n = 898). After adjustment for multiple testing correction, polygenic risk for PAU was associated with lower volume of the left frontal pole and greater cortical thickness of the right supramarginal gyrus (|βs| > 0.009; ps