Multivariate analysis of 1.5 million people identifies genetic associations with traits related to self-regulation and addiction.

ABSTRACT: Behaviors and disorders related to self-regulation, such as substance use, antisocial behavior and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, are collectively referred to as externalizing and have shared genetic liability. We applied a multivariate approach that leverages genetic correlations among externalizing traits for genome-wide association analyses. By pooling data from ~1.5 million people, our approach is statistically more powerful than single-trait analyses and identifies more than 500 genetic loci. The loci were enriched for genes expressed in the brain and related to nervous system development. A polygenic score constructed from our results predicts a range of behavioral and medical outcomes that were not part of genome-wide analyses, including traits that until now lacked well-

SUBMITTER: Karlsson Linner R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8484054 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature