Browsing by Author "Luk, Jeremy W."

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    Gene-by-Environment Interactions on Alcohol Use Among Asian American College Freshmen
    (Rutgers University, Center of Alcohol Studies, 2017-07) Luk, Jeremy W.; Liang, Tiebing; Wall, Tamara L.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    OBJECTIVE: Among northeast Asians, the variant aldehyde dehydrogenase allele, ALDH2*2 (rs671, A/G, minor/major), has been inversely associated with alcohol dependence. The strength of the associations between ALDH2*2 and drinking behaviors depends on the developmental stage, the phenotype studied, and other moderating variables. This study examined ALDH2 gene status as a moderator of the associations between parental drinking, peer drinking, and acculturation with alcohol use among 222 Chinese American and Korean American college freshmen. METHOD: Negative binomial regressions were used to test the main and interactive effects of ALDH2 with contextual factors on alcohol frequency (drinking days) and quantity (drinks per drinking day) in the past 3 months. RESULTS: ALDH2*2 was associated with more subjective flushing symptoms and longer length of flushing but was unrelated to both alcohol frequency and quantity. Peer drinking was positively associated with both alcohol frequency and quantity, but neither was moderated by ALDH2. We observed a nonsignificant trend for the interaction between parental drinking and ALDH2 on alcohol frequency, where parental drinking was positively associated with alcohol frequency only among participants with ALDH2*2. We found a significant interaction between acculturation and ALDH2 on alcohol frequency, where acculturation was positively associated with alcohol frequency only among those with ALDH2*2. Exploratory analyses stratified by Asian ethnic subgroup indicated that this interaction was driven primarily by the Korean subsample. CONCLUSIONS: Parental drinking and acculturation may facilitate more frequent drinking among those who have more intense reactions to alcohol (i.e., those with ALDH2*2) during the transition from high school to college.
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    Parosmia Is Positively Associated With Problematic Drinking, as Is Phantosmia With Depressive Symptoms
    (Wolters Kluwer, 2024) Agarwal, Khushbu; Luk, Jeremy W.; Stangl, Bethany L.; Schwandt, Melanie L.; Momenan, Reza; Goldman, David; Diazgranados, Nancy; Kareken, David A.; Leggio, Lorenzo; Ramchandani, Vijay A.; Joseph, Paule V.; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Objectives: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a global health problem with significant negative consequences, including preventable deaths. Although olfactory dysfunction is associated with chronic alcohol drinking, the relationship among specific types of olfactory deficits, depressive symptoms, and problematic drinking remains to be explored. Here, we examined the prevalence of olfactory distortion (parosmia) and hallucination (phantosmia) and assessed their associations with problematic drinking and depressive symptoms. Methods: In April-June 2022, 250 participants across the spectrum of AUD were recruited for assessment in the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Alcohol study. Surveys covered self-reported olfactory function, depressive symptoms, and problematic drinking, with key measures assessed, including the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test and the Patient Health Questionnaire. Predictors in the analysis included parosmia and phantosmia, with covariates comprising age, sex, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, COVID-19 infection status, and smoking status. Results: Among 250 individuals, 5.2% experienced parosmia and 4.4% reported phantosmia. Parosmia was associated with higher Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test scores (β = 7.14; 95% confidence interval = 3.31, 10.96; P < 0.001), whereas phantosmia was linked to higher Patient Health Questionnaire scores (β = 3.32; 95% confidence interval = 0.22, 6.42; P = 0.03). These associations persisted in both the full sample and the subset of participants without COVID-19. Conclusions: Our study highlights strong existing links among olfactory deficits, problem drinking, and depressive symptoms, underscoring the need to assess smell impairments in clinical settings. Future research should explore these connections further to develop new treatments for individuals with AUD and depression.