Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are rapidly advancing our ability to detect genetic loci associated with psychiatric disorders [1–6]. However, GWAS of any given outcome will detect genetic loci related to that outcome via correlated traits. This non-specificity is evident in the ubiquitous genetic correlations detected across psychiatric traits [1–6]. Using approaches that partition variance in traits can be useful in disentangling pleiotropic effects from those that are specific to a phenotype of interest. In the current analysis, we use the etiology of alcohol use disorders (AUD) as a primary example of how this approach can be useful.
