Substance use and common contributors to morbidity: A genetics perspective

Excessive substance use and substance use disorders (SUDs) are common, serious and relapsing medical conditions. They frequently co-occur with other diseases that are leading contributors to disability worldwide. While heavy sub-stance use may potentiate the course of some of these illnesses, there is accumulating evidence suggesting common genetic architectures. In this narrative review, we focus on four heritable medical conditions-cardiometabolic dis-ease, chronic pain, depression and COVID-19, which are commonly overlapping with, but not necessarily a direct consequence of, SUDs. We find persuasive evidence of underlying genetic liability that predisposes to both SUDs and chronic pain, depression, and COVID-19. For cardiometabolic disease, there is greater support for a potential causal influence of problematic substance use. Our review encourages destigmatization of SUDs and the assessment of substance use in clinical settings. We assert that identifying shared pathways of risk has high translational potential, allowing tailoring of treatments for multiple medical conditions. Copyright (C) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Automated summary

Excessive substance use and substance use disorders are common and serious medical conditions that often co-occur with other diseases. This review finds evidence of shared genetic structures that predispose individuals to substance use disorders, chronic pain, depression, and COVID-19. Problematic substance use may potentially causally influence cardiometabolic disease.