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The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on alcohol use disorder symptoms: Testing interactions with polygenic risk.

Kaitlin E BountressDaniel BustamanteMohammad AhangariFazil AlievSteven H AggenEva Lancasternull nullRoseann E PetersonJasmin VassilevaDanielle M DickAnanda B Amstadter
Published in: Journal of American college health : J of ACH (2024)
Objective: The purpose of this study was to test whether COVID impact interacts with genetic risk (polygenic risk score/PRS) to predict alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms. Method: Participants were n  = 455 college students (79.6% female, 51% European Ancestry/EA, 24% African Ancestry/AFR, 25% Americas Ancestry/AMER) from a longitudinal study during the initial stage (March-May 2020) of the pandemic. Path models allowed for the examination of PRS and previously identified COVID-19 impact constructs. Results: There was a main effect of the AUD PRS on AUD symptoms within the EA group (β: .165, p  < .01). Additionally, food/housing insecurity was predictive in the AMER group (β.295, p  < .05), and greater increases in substance use were associated with AUD symptoms for EA (β:.459, p  < .001) and AMER groups (β:.468, p  < .001). Conclusions: Greater food/housing instability and increases in substance use, as well higher scores on PRS are associated with more AUD symptoms for some ancestral groups within this college sample.
Keyphrases
  • alcohol use disorder
  • coronavirus disease
  • sars cov
  • sleep quality
  • gene expression
  • genome wide association study
  • depressive symptoms