Although the population attributable risk of His48 differs because of the varying allele frequencies, at an individual level the effect of this ADH1B variant on amount of alcohol consumed and on the risk of developing alcohol dependence is the same regardless of ancestry. This polymorphism is an exception to the generally small effect sizes associated with other variants that affect complex traits including alcohol dependence; rs1229984 has a substantial effect on risk of developing alcohol dependency, reducing it by two-thirds.
