In the present study, we pursued a novel strategy in which we measured problematic prescription opioid use (POU) in 23andMe research participants (n = 132,113) of European ancestry. We asked a single question “Have you ever in your life used prescription painkillers (taken not as prescribed), e.g., Vicodin, Oxycontin?”, and conducted a GWAS defining cases as those who answered ‘yes’. We used a variety of bioinformatic analyses to explore the relationship between POU and OUD as well as other substance use disorder-related behaviors. We also explored POU’s genetic relationship with various psychiatric, behavioral, and medical conditions.
