In the present study, we combined SAGE and COGA datasets, hoping to increase the sample sizes and, in turn, the study’s statistical power, thereby enhancing our ability to detect novel risk loci that were missed previously. Furthermore, we examined the specificity of these risk loci for alcohol dependence, by testing their associations with ten non-alcoholism neuropsychiatric disorders including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), early onset stroke, ischemic stroke, and Parkinson’s disease. The data of these disorders were all of those with neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders available for our analysis from the dbGaP database. Both these non-alcoholism disorders and alcohol dependence have been related to dopaminergic, serotoninergic, cholinergic, GABAergic, glutamatergic, and/or adrenergic neurotransmission systems. Additionally, it has been reported that alcoholism has high rates of comorbidity with numerous psychiatric disorders including anxiety disorders, major depression, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, PTSD, etc. (Regier et al., 1990; Kessler et al., 1996; Grant et al., 2004). Thus, it is important to test any risk gene (or genes) identified in the present study, especially
