Alcohol Metabolism and Disease Risk in Asians (R21AA28365)

University of Southern California

Status: Completed

Conditions: Healthy

Treatments: Behavioral: Genotype Feedback Intervention; Behavioral: Phenotype Feedback Intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04967599

HS-20-00814

Details and patient eligibility

About

The primary pathway of alcohol metabolism involves two main enzymes, alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase. Several genes that encode these enzymes have variants that alter the rate of alcohol metabolism and increase levels of acetaldehyde. The variant ALDH2*2 allele is associated with the flushing response (i.e., Asian glow) and is found almost exclusively in individuals of east Asian descent. Although having variant ALDH2 alleles is protective against heavy drinking and alcohol use disorders, for those who do drink, these variants also are associated with elevations in risk for several health problems. The premise of this study is that we can affect early drinking behavior through personalized communication about these health-related risks.

Enrollment: 360 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 17 to 25 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• All participants will be of Asian heritage (i.e. Chinese/Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese).
• About half of the sample will be incoming first-year undergraduates
• About half of the sample will be current undergraduates who self-report having flushed when they first started drinking alcohol

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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360 participants in 3 patient groups

Control (CONTROL)

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants do not receive PHEN or GENE.

Phenotype Feedback (PHEN)

Experimental group

Description:

Participants receive the PHEN intervention.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Phenotype Feedback Intervention

Phenotype and Genotype Feedback (PHEN+GENE)

Experimental group

Description:

Participants receive the PHEN and GENE interventions.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Phenotype Feedback Intervention

Behavioral: Genotype Feedback Intervention