Candidate Genetic Variants Have Minimal Impact on Opioid Addiction Risk

MONDAY, Jan. 13, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Fifteen candidate genetic variants account for only 0.40 percent of variation in opioid use disorder (OUD) risk, according to a study published online Jan. 9 in JAMA Network Open.

Christal N. Davis, Ph.D., from the Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia, and colleagues examined the utility of 15 genetic variants from an algorithm intended to predict OUD risk in a case-control study using electronic health record data, which were accrued from 452,664 participants with opioid exposure in the Million Veteran Program across the United States.

The researchers found that the 15 candidate genes accounted for 0.40 percent of the variation in OUD risk, while age and sex accounted for 3.27 percent of the variation. Using the 15 variants as predictive factors, the ensemble machine learning model correctly classified 52.83 percent of individuals in an independent testing sample.

“Findings of this case-control study suggest that candidate genetic variants from the approved genetic risk algorithm do not meet standards of reasonable clinical efficacy in assessing risk of opioid use disorder,” the authors write. “Because genetic risk models in psychiatry will continue to emerge and could prove clinically useful, it is crucial that researchers and regulatory agencies adopt rigorous standards for developing and evaluating them prior to their application in clinical settings.”

Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry; several authors reported holding relevant patents or having patents pending.

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