Alcohol misuse is one of the leading contributors to preventable mortality and morbidity worldwide1–3. Identifying individuals at heightened risk for developing alcohol-related problems remains an important goal of medical practitioners. One important risk factor for alcohol misuse is one’s own genetic liability. Twin and family studies indicate that genetic influences on alcohol use disorders (AUD) account for ~50% of the variation in the population4. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified multiple variants associated with AUD5–7, alcohol consumption7,8, and maximum alcohol intake9. Using information from these GWASs, we are now able to aggregate risk across the genome by creating polygenic risk scores (PRS) in independent samples5,6,8,10.
