ArticleBrain imaging and behavior2021
Brain structure and problematic alcohol use: a test of plausible causation using latent causal variable analysis.
Article in Brain imaging and behavior, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Brain Structure and Substance Use: Disentangling Risk, Exposure, and Drug-Specific Effects.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Transcription factors implicated in substance use disorder, from immediate early genes to altered gene expression.Brain research · 2026Review
- Morphologic characteristics of distal intracranial arteries in relation to structural changes in the brain after chronic alcohol consumption.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- A multi-omics Mendelian randomization study identifies new therapeutic targets for alcohol use disorder and problem drinking.Nature human behaviour · 2025Article
- Alcohol, smoking, and brain structure: common or substance specific associations.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2024Article
- Adolescent substance use initiation and long-term neurobiological outcomes: insights, challenges and opportunities.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Review
- Neurogenetic and multi-omic sources of overlap among sensation seeking, alcohol consumption, and alcohol use disorder.Addiction biology · 2024Article
- Investigating the Relationship Between Smoking Behavior and Global Brain Volume.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2024Article
- Alcohol use and grey matter structure: Disentangling predispositional and causal contributions in human studies.Addiction biology · 2023Review
- Neurogenetic and multi-omic sources of overlap among sensation seeking, alcohol consumption, and alcohol use disorder.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2023Article
- The Genetically Informed Neurobiology of Addiction (GINA) model.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2023Review
- Association Between Brain Structure and Alcohol Use Behaviors in Adults: A Mendelian Randomization and Multiomics Study.JAMA psychiatry · 2022Article
- Phenotypic Causal Inference Using Genome-Wide Association Study Data: Mendelian Randomization and Beyond.Annual review of biomedical data science · 2022Review
- Inferring the Genetic Influences on Psychological Traits Using MRI Connectivity Predictive Models: Demonstration with Cognition.Complex psychiatryArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Associations between brain structure and problematic alcohol use may reflect alcohol-induced toxicity and/or preexisting risk. Here, we applied a latent causal variable approach to genome-wide association study summary statistics of problematic alcohol use (n = 435,563) and magnetic resonance imaging-derived brain structure phenotypes (e.g., cortical volume, cortical thickness, white matter volume; ns ranging from 17,706 to 51,665) to test whether variability in brain structure may plausibly contribute to problematic alcohol use and/or whether problematic alcohol use influences brain structure. After correction for multiple testing within each modality, we find evidence that greater volume of the pars opercularis, greater thickness of the cuneus, and lower volume of the basal forebrain may plausibly contribute to problematic alcohol use. All other nominally-significant associations identify brain structure as a potential causal contributor to problematic alcohol use; there was no evidence suggesting that problematic alcohol use may cause differences in brain structure. Collectively, these results challenge common interpretations that associations between alcohol use and brain structure reflect consequences of alcohol, instead supporting emerging work suggesting that brain structure may reflect a predispositional risk factor for alcohol involvement.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.