This study must be interpreted with caution for several reasons. The study relied on retrospective recall of age at symptom recency, upon which the remission variable was based. It is possible that an ordinal, rather than a binary, remission phenotype, such as years of abstinence, could provide more power to detect genetic influences on remission, but low rates of abstinence in this young adult sample prohibit its use as a representative phenotype for remission. The sample is relatively young and not yet through the period of risk for developing an AUD or remitting from one, and the possibility of subsequent relapse among remitted individuals in later adulthood cannot be excluded. However, the study does suggest that the environment is the predominant influence on remission in individuals early in their drinking careers, and provides a baseline for similar studies in other twin samples with longer drinking careers.
