Gary J. Sprouse, MD, is a primary care physician based in Chester, Maryland, where he treats patients at a private internal medicine practice at Queen Anne's Medical Center. An active member of the Committee for Addiction Treatment, the American Society for Addiction Medicine, and the American Association for Addiction Psychiatry, Gary J. Sprouse, MD, has served as the medical director of several rehabilitation centers and written books on stress reduction and addiction.
Numerous genetic factors are known to have a role in influencing the development of addiction. Recently, a new gene was discovered that might increase the risk of opioid addiction. Published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, the study involved 5,000 American participants who received opioids and examined the differences between those who became addicted to the drug and those who didn’t.
Scientists learned that a genetic variance on a single chromosome, close to the RGMA gene, was correlated with opioid dependence in African and European Americans. Researchers believe that between 40 percent and 60 percent of a person’s susceptibility to an addiction of any form can be attributed to genetic factors.
