Another consistent finding from genetic correlation analyses has been that alcohol consumption and AUD show distinct patterns of genetic overlap with disease traits (Figure 4). Counterintuitively, alcohol consumption tends to correlate with desirable attributes including educational attainment and is negatively genetically correlated with coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and BMI (18, 21–23). These genetic correlations are unlike those observed when analyzing alcohol dependent individuals: AD was negatively genetically correlated with educational attainment (18) and positively genetically correlated with other psychiatric diseases, including major depressive disorder (MDD), bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD, 12, 18). Importantly, alcohol consumption (AUDIT-C) and misuse (AUDIT-P or AUD) measured in the same population (UKB or MVP) showed distinct patterns of genetic association with psychopathology and health outcomes (18, 22). This set of findings emphasize the importance of deep phenotyping and demonstrates that alcohol consumption and problematic drinking have distinct genetic influences.
