Cai, N. ; Choi, K.W.* ; Fried, E.I.*
Reviewing the genetics of heterogeneity in depression: Operationalizations, manifestations, and etiologies.
Hum. Mol. Genet. 29, R10-R18 (2020)
With progress in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of depression, from identifying zero hits in ~ 16 000 individuals in 2013 to 223 hits in more than a million individuals in 2020, understanding the genetic architecture of this debilitating condition no longer appears to be an impossible task. The pressing question now is whether recently discovered variants describe the etiology of a single disease entity. There are a myriad of ways to measure and operationalize depression severity, and major depressive disorder (MDD) as defined in the DSM-5 can manifest in more than ten thousand ways based on symptom profiles alone. Variations in developmental timing, comorbidity, and environmental contexts across individuals and samples further add to the heterogeneity. With big data increasingly enabling genomic discovery in psychiatry, it is more timely than ever to explicitly disentangle genetic contributions to what is likely 'depressions' rather than depression. Here, we introduce three sources of heterogeneity: operationalization, manifestation, and etiology. We review recent efforts to identify depression subtypes using clinical and data-driven approaches, examine differences in genetic architecture of depression across contexts, and argue that heterogeneity in operationalizations of depression is likely a considerable source of inconsistency. Finally, we offer recommendations and considerations for the field going forward.
Impact Factor
Scopus SNIP
Web of Science
Times Cited
Scopus
Cited By
Altmetric
Publication type
Article: Journal article
Document type
Review
Thesis type
Editors
Keywords
Genome-wide Association; Polygenic Risk Scores; Major Depression; Disorder; Heritability; Metaanalysis; Subtypes; Scales; Twin; Classification
Keywords plus
Language
english
Publication Year
2020
Prepublished in Year
HGF-reported in Year
2020
ISSN (print) / ISBN
0964-6906
e-ISSN
1460-2083
ISBN
Book Volume Title
Conference Title
Conference Date
Conference Location
Proceedings Title
Quellenangaben
Volume: 29,
Issue: R1,
Pages: R10-R18
Article Number: ,
Supplement: ,
Series
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Publishing Place
Great Clarendon St, Oxford Ox2 6dp, England
Day of Oral Examination
0000-00-00
Advisor
Referee
Examiner
Topic
University
University place
Faculty
Publication date
0000-00-00
Application date
0000-00-00
Patent owner
Further owners
Application country
Patent priority
Reviewing status
Peer reviewed
Institute(s)
Helmholtz Pioneer Campus (HPC)
POF-Topic(s)
30202 - Environmental Health
30205 - Bioengineering and Digital Health
Research field(s)
Pioneer Campus
PSP Element(s)
G-510007-001
G-510000-001
Grants
National Institute of Mental Health
Copyright
Erfassungsdatum
2020-07-16