People with lower IQs may be at a higher risk of issues with alcohol

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-10-02 01:00

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International researchers suggest there is a link between a person's IQ at age 18 and their risk of developing alcohol use disorder (AUD). The team looked at close to 600,000 people from the Swedish Military Conscription Register, which included an IQ assessment, and then followed up with them over an average of 60.5 years. Using a technique called ‘Mendelian Randomisation’ - which uses genetics to allow scientists to determine whether one thing causes another, rather than them just being linked - the team found a causal association between lower cognitive performance and the risk of AUD, whereas the inverse was found for people with higher IQs. The researchers say that these results are heavily context-dependent, which highlights the need for an understanding of the interplay among genetic factors, cognitive traits, and sociocultural influences on the disorder.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Psychiatry

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Linköping University, Sweden

Funder: This study was funded by the Swedish Research Council grant 2013-07434 (Dr Heilig); Knut and AliceWallenberg Foundation Clinical Scholar Grant (Dr Heilig); the Medical Training and Research Agreement in Östergötland Region grant ALF 2018: LIO-692621 and ALF 2019: LIO-791581 (Dr Capusan), and by the Systembolagets Alkoholforskningsråd grant numbers 2016-0018, 2017-0075, 2018-0030, and 2019-0007 (Dr Heilig); from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research grant CIHR FRN 477887 (Dr Rehm); the Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center of the Crescenz VA Medical Center (Drs Davis and Kranzler). Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Heilig reported receiving grants from Swedish Research Council, Knut and AliceWallenberg Foundation, and Systembolagets Alkoholforskningsrå; advisory board fees from Lundbeck, Aelis, Indivior, Brainsway; speaker fees and nonfinancial support (material for clinical trial) from Indivior; speaker fees from Accord Pharma and Nordic Drugs; and nonfinancial support (materials for clinical trial) from Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Idorsia outside the submitted work. Dr Capusan reported receiving personal fees from Indivior, Camurus, dne Pharma, Nordic Drugs, and Lundbeck outside the submitted work. Dr Kranzler reported receiving grants from Altimmune, Alkermes and personal fees from Altimmune, Sobrera, Lilly, Clearmind, and Ribocure outside the submitted work and being an inventor on US provisional patent “Multi-ancestry Genome-wide Association Meta-analysis of Buprenorphine Treatment Response.” No other disclosures were reported.

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