Measures of General Intelligence and Risk for Alcohol Use Disorder

Is there an association between IQ and risk for alcohol use disorder, and if so, what is the nature of this association?In a male Swedish cohort including 573 855 participants, IQ at age 18 years was associated with subsequent alcohol use disorder risk. Mendelian randomization analyses suggest a causal association, albeit with context-dependent differences; genetic liability for cognitive performance also predicted alcohol use disorder in a US-based sample.Results suggest that there was a clear impact of genetic liability for cognitive performance on alcohol disorder risk, but the association varies based on the sociocultural context.

Corresponding Author: Markus Heilig, MD, PhD, Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, S-581 85, Linköping, Sweden (markus.heilig@liu.se).

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