Parental Remission from Alcohol Use Disorder and Offspring Alcohol Use Initiation, AUD, and Remission in a High-Risk Family Sample.

Abstract

Objective: We investigate offspring alcohol use outcomes as a function of unremitted and remitted parental alcohol use disorder (AUD).

Methods: Self-report data of participants in the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) were used. Offspring (n=2244, mean age 16.3 at baseline, 26.9 years at follow-up, 50.8% female) were linked to parent data. Time-varying associations of parental AUD and remission with offspring age at first drink, years from first drink to AUD onset, and years from AUD onset to first remission were tested in Cox models adjusted for polygenic risk for problematic alcohol use (PGSPAU). Analyses were stratified by genetically inferred continental groups of European (EA, 65.9%) and African (AA, 34.1%) Americans due to sociocultural factors that can contribute to differences in alcohol use and problems.

Results: In EA, maternal remission was associated with increased risk for offspring AUD; neither maternal nor paternal remission was associated with other outcomes. In AA, maternal and paternal remission were associated with increased likelihood of early drinking; the association with maternal drinking varied as a function of whom offspring lived with during adolescence. Paternal, but not maternal, remission was associated with heightened risk for AUD onset. Parental status had no association with offspring remission in EA or AA.

Conclusions: Evidence that parental remission can help mitigate the risk associated with parental AUD and increase likelihood of remission in affected offspring was limited and mixed based on continental group and sex. These nuanced outcomes highlight the complex interplay of parental AUD status and offspring's alcohol-related behaviors.