Our findings also have implications for the use of DSM-based alcohol measures. Despite the concerns surrounding alcohol abuse (46), abuse was substantially heritable (51%) and had a genetic correlation with dependence that did not differ significantly from unity. Thus, abuse may provide information on individuals at genetic risk of AD who would be missed by using dependence exclusively. We found less support for a focus on symptom temporal clustering: it was endorsed by 88% of women and 90% of men with 3 or more symptoms, had only modest heritability (30%), and had a genetic correlation of unity with AD symptom count, suggesting it added little information beyond that provided by dependence symptoms.
