In the absence of any GWAS significant results, we briefly discuss a few notable trend level results. We identified nominal associated variants in alcohol metabolizing genes. Genes influencing pharmacokinetics have previously been identified through linkage, candidate gene and genome-wide association studies for AUD and related traits (reviewed in Tawa et al. 2016). The most robust signal was located in the ADH1C gene, which contributes to ethanol oxidation. This signal was also identified in earlier GWAS studies for alcohol consumption (Clarke et al. 2017) and AUD status in both European (Clarke et al. 2017; Frank et al. 2012) and African American (Gelernter et al. 2014) populations, suggesting that pharmacokinetic factors are an important contributor to differences in both AUDIT score and AUD.
