scholarly journals Polygenic risk for psychiatric disorder reveals distinct association profiles across social behaviour in the general population

Author(s):  
Fenja Schlag ◽  
Andrea Giuseppe Allegrini ◽  
Jan Buitelaar ◽  
Ellen Verhoef ◽  
Marjolein van Donkelaar ◽  
...  

Many complex psychiatric disorders are characterised by a spectrum of social difficulties. These symptoms lie on a behavioural dimension that is shared with social behaviour in the general population, with substantial contributions of genetic factors. However, shared genetic links may vary across psychiatric disorders and social symptoms. Here, we systematically investigate heterogeneity in shared genetic liabilities with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorders (ASD), bipolar disorder (BP), major depression (MD) and schizophrenia, across a spectrum of different social symptoms. Specifically, longitudinally assessed low-prosociality and peer-problem scores in two UK population-based/community-based cohorts (ALSPAC, N ≤ 6174, 4-17 years; TEDS, N ≤ 7112, 4-16 years; parent- and teacher-reports) were regressed on polygenic risk scores for ADHD, ASD, BP, MD, and schizophrenia, as informed by genome-wide summary statistics from large consortia, using negative binomial regression models. Across ALSPAC and TEDS, we replicated univariate polygenic associations between social behaviour and risk for ADHD, MD, and schizophrenia. Modelling univariate genetic effects across both cohorts with random-effect meta-regression revealed evidence for polygenic links between social behaviour and ADHD, ASD, MD, and schizophrenia risk, but not BP, where differences in age, reporter and social trait captured 45-88% in univariate effect variation. For ADHD, MD, and ASD polygenic risk, we identified stronger association with peer problems than low prosociality, while schizophrenia polygenic risk was solely associated with low prosociality. The identified association profiles suggest marked differences in the social genetic architecture underlying different psychiatric disorders when investigating population-based social symptoms across 13 years of child and adolescent development.  

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S170-S170
Author(s):  
Carsten Hjorthøj ◽  
Md Jamal Uddin ◽  
Theresa Wimberley ◽  
Søren Dalsgaard ◽  
David Hougaard ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Cannabis use and cannabis use disorder (CUD) is increased in patients with schizophrenia. It is important to establish if this is explained by non-causal factors, such as shared genetic vulnerability. We aimed to investigate whether the polygenic risk scores (PRS) for schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders would predict CUD in controls, patients with schizophrenia, and patients with other psychiatric disorders. Methods We linked nationwide Danish registers and genetic information obtained from dried neonatal bloodspots in an observational analysis. We included people with schizophrenia, other psychiatric disorders, and controls. The exposures of interest were the polygenic risk scores for schizophrenia, ADHD autism spectrum disorder, and anorexia nervosa. The main outcome of interest was diagnosis of cannabis use disorder. Results The study included 88,637 individuals. PRS for schizophrenia did not predict CUD in controls (hazard ratio (HR)=1.16, 95% CI 0.95–1.43 per standard-deviation increase in PRS, or HR=1.47, 95% CI 0.72–3.00 comparing highest versus remaining decile), but PRS for ADHD did (HR=1.27, 95% CI 1.08–1.50 per standard-deviation increase, or HR=2.02, 95% CI 1.27–3.22 for the highest decile of PRS). . Among cases with schizophrenia, the PRS for schizophrenia was associated with CUD. While CUD was a strong predictor of schizophrenia (HR=4.91 (95% CI 4.36–5.53)), the inclusion of various PRS did not appreciably alter this association. Discussion The PRS for schizophrenia was not associated with CUD in controls or patients with other psychiatric disorders than schizophrenia. This speaks against the hypothesis that shared genetic vulnerability would explain the association between cannabis and schizophrenia.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Nørgaard Munch ◽  
Paula Hedley ◽  
Christian Munch Hagen ◽  
Marie Bækvad-Hansen ◽  
Jonas Bybjerg-Grauholm ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The association between autism spectrum disorder and hydrocephalus is not well understood, despite demonstrated links between autism spectrum disorder and cerebrospinal fluid abnormalities. Based on the hypothesis that autism spectrum disorder and hydrocephalus may, at least in some cases, be two manifestations of a shared congenital brain pathology, we investigated the potential association between autism spectrum disorder and hydrocephalus in a large Danish population-based cohort, and whether the polygenic risk scores for autism spectrum disorder changed as a function of the presence of hydrocephalus. Methods Patients and controls were obtained from the Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research iPSYCH2012 case-cohort, which includes all patients with selected psychiatric disorders born in Denmark 1981–2005 along with randomly selected population controls (end of follow-up, December 31, 2016). The associations between individual psychiatric disorders and hydrocephalus were estimated using binary logistic regression with adjustment for age and sex. Polygenic risk scores for autism spectrum disorder were used to compare the genetic architecture of autism spectrum disorder as a function of the presence of hydrocephalus. Results The cohort consisted of 86,571 individuals, of which 14,654 were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, 28,606 were population controls, and the remaining were diagnosed with other psychiatric disorders. We identified 201 hydrocephalus cases; 68 among autism spectrum disorder patients and 40 among controls (OR 3.77, 95% CI 2.48–5.78). The autism spectrum disorder-hydrocephalus association was significant over the entire subgroup spectrum of autism spectrum disorder. The presence of hydrocephalus did not markedly influence the polygenic risk scores in patients with autism spectrum disorder, which may indicate overlapping genetic architectures or other common aetiology. Conclusions Given the very strong association, we suggest that patients with autism spectrum disorder should be evaluated for co-occurring hydrocephalus on a routine basis as timely neurosurgical intervention is important. Further clarification of the genetic aetiology of both diseases, may help in elucidating shared genetic pathways between autism spectrum disorder and hydrocephalus, and it may elucidate the role of abnormal CSF dynamics in the pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorders.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Budhachandra Khundrakpam ◽  
Uku Vainik ◽  
Jinnan Gong ◽  
Noor Al-Sharif ◽  
Neha Bhutani ◽  
...  

Abstract Autism spectrum disorder is a highly prevalent and highly heritable neurodevelopmental condition, but studies have mostly taken traditional categorical diagnosis approach (yes/no for autism spectrum disorder). In contrast, an emerging notion suggests a continuum model of autism spectrum disorder with a normal distribution of autistic tendencies in the general population, where a full diagnosis is at the severe tail of the distribution. We set out to investigate such a viewpoint by investigating the interaction of polygenic risk scores for autism spectrum disorder and Age2 on neuroimaging measures (cortical thickness and white matter connectivity) in a general population (n = 391, with age ranging from 3 to 21 years from the Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition and Genetics study). We observed that children with higher polygenic risk for autism spectrum disorder exhibited greater cortical thickness for a large age span starting from 3 years up to ∼14 years in several cortical regions localized in bilateral precentral gyri and the left hemispheric postcentral gyrus and precuneus. In an independent case–control dataset from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (n = 560), we observed a similar pattern: children with autism spectrum disorder exhibited greater cortical thickness starting from 6 years onwards till ∼14 years in wide-spread cortical regions including (the ones identified using the general population). We also observed statistically significant regional overlap between the two maps, suggesting that some of the cortical abnormalities associated with autism spectrum disorder overlapped with brain changes associated with genetic vulnerability for autism spectrum disorder in healthy individuals. Lastly, we observed that white matter connectivity between the frontal and parietal regions showed significant association with polygenic risk for autism spectrum disorder, indicating that not only the brain structure, but the white matter connectivity might also show a predisposition for the risk of autism spectrum disorder. Our findings showed that the fronto-parietal thickness and connectivity are dimensionally related to genetic risk for autism spectrum disorder in general population and are also part of the cortical abnormalities associated with autism spectrum disorder. This highlights the necessity of considering continuum models in studying the aetiology of autism spectrum disorder using polygenic risk scores and multimodal neuroimaging.


2019 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten Hjorthøj ◽  
Md Jamal Uddin ◽  
Theresa Wimberley ◽  
Søren Dalsgaard ◽  
David M. Hougaard ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Cannabis use and cannabis use disorder (CUD) is increased in patients with schizophrenia. It is important to establish if this is explained by non-causal factors, such as shared genetic vulnerability. We aimed to investigate whether the polygenic risk scores (PRS) for schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders would predict CUD in controls, patients with schizophrenia, and patients with other psychiatric disorders. Methods We linked nationwide Danish registers and genetic information obtained from dried neonatal bloodspots in an observational analysis. We included people with schizophrenia, other psychiatric disorders, and controls. The exposures of interest were the PRS for schizophrenia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) autism spectrum disorder, and anorexia nervosa. The main outcome of interest was the diagnosis of CUD. Results The study included 88 637 individuals. PRS for schizophrenia did not predict CUD in controls [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.16, 95% CI 0.95–1.43 per standard-deviation increase in PRS, or HR = 1.47, 95% CI 0.72–3.00 comparing highest v. remaining decile], but PRS for ADHD did (HR = 1.27, 95% CI 1.08–1.50 per standard-deviation increase, or HR = 2.02, 95% CI 1.27–3.22 for the highest decile of PRS). Among cases with schizophrenia, the PRS for schizophrenia was associated with CUD. While CUD was a strong predictor of schizophrenia (HR = 4.91, 95% CI 4.36–5.53), the inclusion of various PRS did not appreciably alter this association. Conclusion The PRS for schizophrenia was not associated with CUD in controls or patients with other psychiatric disorders than schizophrenia. This speaks against the hypothesis that shared genetic vulnerability would explain the association between cannabis and schizophrenia.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.R. Docherty ◽  
Andrey A. Shabalin ◽  
Daniel E. Adkins ◽  
Frank Mann ◽  
Robert F. Krueger ◽  
...  

AbstractImportanceSubthreshold psychosis symptoms in the general population may be associated with genetic risk for schizophrenia. In this analysis, empirically-derived symptom factor scores led to a detection of significant and robust polygenic signal.ObjectiveThis study sought to optimize genetic association with data-driven symptom factor scores, accounting for cohort factor structure and sex differences.DesignEFA-derived symptom factor scores were regressed onto PRS for schizophrenia in models accounting for age and genetic ancestry principal components. Follow-up examination of symptom factor score associations with other related genetic risks included ADHD, autism, bipolar disorder, major depression, and neuroticism.ParticipantsThis study examined the newly expanded symptom dataset from the Northern European ancestry cohort, Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study (N = 9,105 individuals 18-65 years of age) comprising common variant and subthreshold psychosis symptom data. A total of 5,391 females and 3,713 males with age M[SD] = 45.2 [13] were included in the final analyses.Main Outcome and MeasureSubthreshold psychosis symptoms were measured using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief (SPQ-B). Primary phenotypic factor scores and genome-wide polygenic risk scores (PRS) reflected weighted sum scores and were examined as continuous measures. Polygenic risk scores were calculated from genome-wide association summary statistics using 7,358,674 imputed common genetic variants passing quality control.ResultsIn males, symptom factor scores were positively associated with polygenic risk for schizophrenia alone and implicated primarily interpersonal/negative symptoms. In females, symptom factor scores were positively associated with polygenic risks for ADHD and autism but not schizophrenia. Scores were robustly associated with genetic risk for neuroticism across both males and females.Conclusions and RelevanceThis study detected a significant association of subthreshold psychosis symptoms with genetic risk for schizophrenia and neuroticism in a population-based sample. Furthermore, important sex differences suggest a need for better understanding of schizophrenia risk assessment in females.Key PointsQuestionWhat molecular genetic risks are associated with subthreshold psychosis symptoms in the general population?FindingsIn a large population-based cohort (N = 9,084), significant associations of polygenic risks with symptoms were observed. Symptoms were associated with genetic risk for schizophrenia in males, for ADHD and autism spectrum disorder in females, and for neuroticism across both males and females.MeaningAssociations of genetic risk with symptoms in the general population are highly significant and suggest important sex differences.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Simon Schmitt ◽  
Tina Meller ◽  
Frederike Stein ◽  
Katharina Brosch ◽  
Kai Ringwald ◽  
...  

Abstract Background MRI-derived cortical folding measures are an indicator of largely genetically driven early developmental processes. However, the effects of genetic risk for major mental disorders on early brain development are not well understood. Methods We extracted cortical complexity values from structural MRI data of 580 healthy participants using the CAT12 toolbox. Polygenic risk scores (PRS) for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, and cross-disorder (incorporating cumulative genetic risk for depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) were computed and used in separate general linear models with cortical complexity as the regressand. In brain regions that showed a significant association between polygenic risk for mental disorders and cortical complexity, volume of interest (VOI)/region of interest (ROI) analyses were conducted to investigate additional changes in their volume and cortical thickness. Results The PRS for depression was associated with cortical complexity in the right orbitofrontal cortex (right hemisphere: p = 0.006). A subsequent VOI/ROI analysis showed no association between polygenic risk for depression and either grey matter volume or cortical thickness. We found no associations between cortical complexity and polygenic risk for either schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or psychiatric cross-disorder when correcting for multiple testing. Conclusions Changes in cortical complexity associated with polygenic risk for depression might facilitate well-established volume changes in orbitofrontal cortices in depression. Despite the absence of psychopathology, changed cortical complexity that parallels polygenic risk for depression might also change reward systems, which are also structurally affected in patients with depressive syndrome.


2021 ◽  
pp. 108705472110201
Author(s):  
Douglas Teixeira Leffa ◽  
Bernardo Horta ◽  
Fernando C. Barros ◽  
Ana M. B. Menezes ◽  
Thais Martins-Silva ◽  
...  

Objective: Shared genetic mechanisms have been hypothesized to explain the comorbidity between ADHD and asthma. To evaluate their genetic overlap, we relied on data from the 1982 Pelotas birth cohort to test the association between polygenic risk scores (PRSs) for ADHD (ADHD-PRSs) and asthma, and PRSs for asthma (asthma-PRSs) and ADHD. Method: We analyzed data collected at birth, 2, 22, and 30 years from 3,574 individuals. Results: Subjects with ADHD had increased risk of having asthma (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.01–3.66). The association was stronger for females. Our results showed no evidence of association between ADHD-PRSs and asthma or asthma-PRSs and ADHD. However, an exploratory analysis suggested that adult ADHD might be genetically associated with asthma. Conclusion: Our results do not support a shared genetic background between both conditions. Findings should be viewed in light of important limitations, particularly the sample size and the self-reported asthma diagnosis. Studies in larger datasets are required to better explore the genetic overlap between adult ADHD and asthma.


2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (14) ◽  
pp. 2397-2404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mu-Hong Chen ◽  
Ju-Wei Hsu ◽  
Kei-Lin Huang ◽  
Tung-Ping Su ◽  
Cheng-Ta Li ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundBipolar disorder is a highly heritable mental illness that transmits intergeneratively. Previous studies supported that first-degree relatives (FDRs), such as parents, offspring, and siblings, of patients with bipolar disorder, had a higher risk of bipolar disorder. However, whether FDRs of bipolar patients have an increased risk of schizophrenia, major depressive disorder (MDD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) remains unclear.MethodsAmong the entire population in Taiwan, 87 639 patients with bipolar disorder and 188 290 FDRs of patients with bipolar disorder were identified in our study. The relative risks (RRs) of major psychiatric disorders were assessed among FDRs of patients with bipolar disorder.ResultsFDRs of patients with bipolar disorder were more likely to have a higher risk of major psychiatric disorders, including bipolar disorder (RR 6.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) 5.95–6.30), MDD (RR 2.89, 95% CI 2.82–2.96), schizophrenia (RR 2.64, 95% CI 2.55–2.73), ADHD (RR 2.21, 95% CI 2.13–2.30), and ASD (RR 2.10, 95% CI 1.92–2.29), than the total population did. These increased risks for major psychiatric disorders were consistent across different familial kinships, such as parents, offspring, siblings, and twins. A dose-dependent relationship was also found between risk of each major psychiatric disorder and numbers of bipolar patients.ConclusionsOur study was the first study to support the familial coaggregation of bipolar disorder with other major psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, MDD, ADHD, and ASD, in a Taiwanese (non-Caucasian) population. Given the elevated risks of major psychiatric disorders, the public health government should pay more attention to the mental health of FDRs of patients with bipolar disorder.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon J. Coombes ◽  
Matej Markota ◽  
J. John Mann ◽  
Colin Colby ◽  
Eli Stahl ◽  
...  

AbstractBipolar disorder (BD) has high clinical heterogeneity, frequent psychiatric comorbidities, and elevated suicide risk. To determine genetic differences between common clinical sub-phenotypes of BD, we performed a systematic PRS analysis using multiple polygenic risk scores (PRSs) from a range of psychiatric, personality, and lifestyle traits to dissect differences in BD sub-phenotypes in two BD cohorts: the Mayo Clinic BD Biobank (N = 968) and Genetic Association Information Network (N = 1001). Participants were assessed for history of psychosis, early-onset BD, rapid cycling (defined as four or more episodes in a year), and suicide attempts using questionnaires and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. In a combined sample of 1969 bipolar cases (45.5% male), those with psychosis had higher PRS for SCZ (OR = 1.3 per S.D.; p = 3e-5) but lower PRSs for anhedonia (OR = 0.87; p = 0.003) and BMI (OR = 0.87; p = 0.003). Rapid cycling cases had higher PRS for ADHD (OR = 1.23; p = 7e-5) and MDD (OR = 1.23; p = 4e-5) and lower BD PRS (OR = 0.8; p = 0.004). Cases with a suicide attempt had higher PRS for MDD (OR = 1.26; p = 1e-6) and anhedonia (OR = 1.22; p = 2e-5) as well as lower PRS for educational attainment (OR = 0.87; p = 0.003). The observed novel PRS associations with sub-phenotypes align with clinical observations such as rapid cycling BD patients having a greater lifetime prevalence of ADHD. Our findings confirm that genetic heterogeneity underlies the clinical heterogeneity of BD and consideration of genetic contribution to psychopathologic components of psychiatric disorders may improve genetic prediction of complex psychiatric disorders.


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