ABSTRACT Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurs following potentially traumatic experiences, but not everyone who experiences trauma develops PTSD. Genetic factors play an important role in shaping how individuals respond to trauma, reflecting gene-environment interaction. An open and important question in PTSD genetics research is the extent to which gene-environment interactions vary across specific traumas. Objective: We aimed to compare gene-environment interaction effects across a broad range of self-reported potentially traumatic experiences across the lifespan. Method: We analysed existing data from two large UK cohorts: the UK Biobank and GLAD-EDGI-COPING (N = 144,702). PTSD symptoms were assessed using the six-item abbreviated PTSD Checklist. We examined eleven self-reported trauma exposures, including five childhood traumas and six adulthood traumas. We conducted gene-environment interaction analyses for each trauma at three levels of genetic specificity: polygenic risk scores, specific genes, and specific genetic variants. Results: Childhood traumas showed stronger associations with PTSD symptoms and greater gene-environment interactions than adulthood traumas on average. Childhood emotional and physical neglect also demonstrated greater gene-environment interactions than childhood abuse. Interaction patterns varied across genes and variants, with several leading PTSD-associated genes (e.g. ANAPC, FAM120A, SGCD) having particularly strong interactions with certain traumas. Several genes (DTX4, PSMD12, TYW3, ZNF660) demonstrated consistently stronger interactions across all childhood or all adulthood traumas. Differences in gene-environment interactions across traumas were not explained by variation in exposure rates, associations with PTSD symptoms, or gene-environment correlations. Conclusions: Our findings are consistent with differential gene-environment interactions on PTSD across potentially traumatic experiences, with those in childhood exhibiting the strongest interactions. To account for the moderating role of trauma type on genetic associations, genetic research on PTSD should incorporate detailed trauma exposure information, which may improve PTSD risk prediction and support more personalised prevention approaches.
Jacob Knyspel, S. Kakar, Anna C. Carnegie et al.· European Journal of Psychotr...· 0 citations
Background: Cannabis use disorder (CUD) is an increasingly prevalent substance use disorder among youth. Early initiation, particularly before age 16, significantly increases risk of CUD, psychiatric comorbidity, and adverse psychosocial outcomes. Despite this vulnerability, help-seeking remains low, with only 3% of Canadians reporting cannabis use reporting access to professional support. Existing research has documented the harms of cannabis and CUD in youth, but little is known about whether addiction services are structured to meet these needs.
Objective: To characterize the publicly funded addiction treatment landscape in Ontario and assess the availability, accessibility, approachability, and appropriateness of addiction services for youth with CUD using Levesque’s framework of healthcare access.
Methods: An environmental scan of the ConnexOntario database was conducted (February-March 2025). Of 194 services initially identified under “substance use,” 160 met the inclusion criteria. Publicly available service descriptions were reviewed to extract variables including age eligibility, geographical location, referral requirements, service models, substances explicitly mentioned, treatment philosophy, and populations served.
Results: Of 160 services, 64 (40%) indicated serving youth (≤17 years), with only 3.8% identified as youth-exclusive programs. Among youth-serving services, only 34% accepted clients under age 16, despite early initiation as a known risk for CUD. Cannabis was explicitly referenced in only 4.7% of youth-serving services, compared with 48.4% referencing alcohol. Many services emphasized detoxification and rapid access models that are primarily tailored to alcohol or opioid use.
Conclusion: Findings reveal a structural mismatch between epidemiologic risk and service design. The current addiction treatment landscape in Ontario demonstrates limited visibility, age-appropriate access, and cannabis-specific programming for youth with CUD. Even when services are available, models often do not align with the typical outpatient and psychosocial needs of youth with CUD. This mapping review highlights the urgent need for accessible, youth-centered, cannabis-specific early intervention to better support help-seeking in youth.
Chloe C. Y. Wong, Oyedegi Ayonrinde· McMaster University Medical...· 0 citations
Findings provide proof-of-concept for the utility of pPGSs in psychiatric research, suggesting both genetic contributions to trauma exposure and GxE effects on psychosis risk, as well as supporting pathway-specific contributions beyond general polygenic risk.
G. Trotta, I. Austin-Zimmerman, E. Spinazzola et al.· Translational Psychiatry· 0 citations
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