Major depression and phobias: the genetic and environmental sources of comorbidity

1993 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 361-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth S. Kendler ◽  
Michael C. Neale ◽  
Ronald C. Kessler ◽  
Andrew C. Heath ◽  
Lindon J. Eaves

SynopsisIn a population based sample of 2163 personally interviewed female twins, substantial comorbidity was observed between DSM-III-R defined major depression (MD) and 4 subtypes of phobia: agoraphobia, social phobia, animal phobia and situational phobia. However, the level of comorbidity of MD with agoraphobia was much greater than that found with the other phobic subtypes. We conducted bivariate twin analyses to decompose the genetic and environmental sources of comorbidity between MD and the phobias. Our results suggest that a modest proportion of the genetic vulnerability to MD also influences the risk for all phobic subtypes, with the possible exception of situational phobias. Furthermore, the magnitude of comorbidity resulting from this shared genetic vulnerability is similar across the phobic subtypes. By contrast, the non-familial environmental experiences which predispose to depression substantially increase the vulnerability to agoraphobia, have a modest impact on the risk for social and situational phobias and no effect on the risk for animal phobias. The increased comorbidity between MD and agoraphobia results, nearly entirely, from individual-specific environmental risk factors for MD which also increase the risk for agoraphobia but not for other phobias.

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 617-622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen E. Walters ◽  
Michael C. Neale ◽  
Lindon J. Eaves ◽  
Andrew C. Heath ◽  
Ronald C. Kessler ◽  
...  

SynopsisA genetic analysis of the co-occurrence of bulimia and major depression (MD) was performed on 1033 female twin pairs obtained from a population based register. Personal interviews were conducted and clinical diagnoses made according to DSM-III-R criteria.Additive genes, but not family environment, are found to play an important aetiological role in both bulimia and MD. The genetic liabilities of the two disorders are correlated 0·456. While unique environmental factors account for around half of the variation in liability to both bulimia and MD, these risk factors appear to be unrelated, i.e., each disorder has its own set of unique environmental risk factors. Thus, the genetic liability of bulimia and MD is neither highly specific nor entirely nonspecific. There is some genetic correlation between the two disorders as well as some genetic and environmental risk factors unique to each disorder. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.


2000 ◽  
Vol 157 (3) ◽  
pp. 469-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracey D. Wade ◽  
Cynthia M. Bulik ◽  
Michael Neale ◽  
Kenneth S. Kendler

1996 ◽  
Vol 168 (S30) ◽  
pp. 68-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth S. Kendler

In both clinical and epidemiological samples, major depression (MD) and generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) display substantial comorbidity. In a prior analysis of lifetime MD and GAD in female twins, the same genetic factors were shown to influence the liability to MD and to GAD. A follow-up interview in the same twin cohort examined one-year prevalence for MD and GAD (diagnosed using a one-month minimum duration of illness). Bivariate twin models were fitted using the program Mx. High levels of comorbidity were observed between MD and GAD. The best-fitting twin models, when GAD was diagnosed with or without a diagnostic hierarchy, found a genetic correlation of unity between the two disorders. The correlation in environmental risk factors was +0.70 when GAD was diagnosed non-hierarchically, but zero when hierarchical diagnoses were used. Our findings provide further support for the hypothesis that in women, MD and GAD are the result of the same genetic factors. Environmental risk factors that predispose to ‘pure’ GAD episodes may be relatively distinct from those that increase risk for MD.


Stroke ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 32 (suppl_1) ◽  
pp. 321-321
Author(s):  
Daniel Woo ◽  
Laura Sauerbeck ◽  
Brett M Kissela ◽  
Jane C Khoury ◽  
Rakesh Shukla ◽  
...  

27 Introduction: We report a planned midpoint analysis of a prospective, population-based, case-control study of the genetic and environmental risk factors of spontaneous, non-traumatic, intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Methods: Cases were matched to two controls by age, race and gender. Data was obtained by direct interview and review of all available medical and neuroimaging data. Apolipoprotein E (Apo E)genotype was determined by polymerase chain reaction. Multivariable analyses were performed using logistic regression modeling. Results: Between 6/97 and 2/00, 189 cases of ICH (150 white/39 black; 68 lobar/121 non-lobar) and 368 controls were enrolled into the study. Independent risk factors for multivariable analysis are listed in the table. Only prior stroke was an independent risk factor for both lobar and non-lobar ICH. Conclusions: The importance of individual genetic and environmental risk factors for ICH vary substantially by location of ICH. A history of a first-degree relative with ICH was associated with an increased risk of lobar ICH, independent of Apo E genotype. This finding indicates that other genetic risk factors may be important in the development of ICH.


2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liming Li ◽  
Wenjing Gao ◽  
Canqing Yu ◽  
Jun Lv ◽  
Weihua Cao ◽  
...  

The Chinese National Twin Registry (CNTR), established in 2001, is the first and largest population-based twin registry in China. Based on the CNTR, a new twin cohort was recruited from 2011 to study the relationship between environmental risk factors and chronic diseases. So far, 33,874 twin pairs from nine provinces have been recruited, in which hundreds of disease-discordant twin pairs and even thousands of exposure-discordant twin pairs were found in this cohort. The updates of the CNTR will be introduced in detail in this article.


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (10) ◽  
pp. 1816-1824 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. S. Kendler ◽  
C. O. Gardner

BackgroundThis study seeks to clarify the contribution of temporally stable and occasion-specific genetic and environmental influences on risk for major depression (MD).MethodOur sample was 2153 members of female–female twin pairs from the Virginia Twin Registry. We examined four personal interview waves conducted over an 8-year period with MD in the last year defined by DSM-IV criteria. We fitted a structural equation model to the data using classic Mx. The model included genetic and environmental risk factors for a latent, stable vulnerability to MD and for episodes in each of the four waves.ResultsThe best-fit model was simple and included genetic and unique environmental influences on the latent liability to MD and unique wave-specific environmental effects. The path from latent liability to MD in the last year was constant over time, moderate in magnitude (+0.65) and weaker than the impact of occasion-specific environmental effects (+0.76). Heritability of the latent stable liability to MD was much higher (78%) than that estimated for last-year MD (32%). Of the total unique environmental influences on MD, 13% reflected enduring consequences of earlier environmental insults, 17% diagnostic error and 70% wave-specific short-lived environmental stressors.ConclusionsBoth genetic influences on MD and MD heritability are stable over middle adulthood. However, the largest influence on last-year MD is short-lived environmental effects. As predicted by genetic theory, the heritability of MD is increased substantially by measurement at multiple time points largely through the reduction of the effects of measurement error and short-term environmental risk factors.


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