The present study took advantage of both family and case-control study designs in two large complementary and well-characterized European American (EA) cohorts assessed using the Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism, which includes the “maxdrinks” measure of alcohol consumption (maxdrinks). Maxdrinks is heritable and strongly correlated with excessive alcohol consumption and alcohol dependence (AD); (Grant et al. 2009; Kendler et al. 2010; Saccone et al. 2000). GWAS was performed in each cohort and then results were combined in a subsequent meta-analysis. We found suggestive evidence of association with several novel loci and supportive evidence of association with several previously reported loci.
