How important are parents in the development of child anxiety and depression? A genomic analysis of parent-offspring trios in the Norwegian Mother Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa)

BMC Medicine

Pål R. Njølstad¹  Per Magnus²  Espen Moen Eilertsen³  Line C. Gjerde⁴  Alexandra Havdahl⁵  Eivind Ystrom⁶  Ole A. Andreassen⁷  Laurie J. Hannigan⁸  Rosa Cheesman⁹  Yasmin I. Ahmadzadeh⁹  Alexander I. Young^1,10  Thalia C. Eley^1,11  Tom A. McAdams^1,12 

[1] Center of Diabetes Research, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway;Department of Pediatrics and Adolescents, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway;Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway;Department of Mental Disorders, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway;Department of Mental Disorders, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway;PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway;Department of Mental Disorders, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway;PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway;Nic Waals Institute at Lovisenberg Diaconal Hospital, Oslo, Norway;MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK;Department of Mental Disorders, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway;PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway;School of Pharmacy, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway;NORMENT Centre, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway;Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway;Nic Waals Institute at Lovisenberg Diaconal Hospital, Oslo, Norway;MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK;Social Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK;Social Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK;Center for Economic and Social Research, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA;Social Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK;NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, London, UK;Social Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK;PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway;

关键词: Genomics;    Environment;    Genetic nurture;    Anxiety;    Depression;    Children;    MoBa;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12916-020-01760-1

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMany studies detect associations between parent behaviour and child symptoms of anxiety and depression. Despite knowledge that anxiety and depression are influenced by a complex interplay of genetic and environmental risk factors, most studies do not account for shared familial genetic risk. Quantitative genetic designs provide a means of controlling for shared genetics, but rely on observed putative exposure variables, and require data from highly specific family structures.MethodsThe intergenerational genomic method, Relatedness Disequilibrium Regression (RDR), indexes environmental effects of parents on child traits using measured genotypes. RDR estimates how much the parent genome influences the child indirectly via the environment, over and above effects of genetic factors acting directly in the child. This ‘genetic nurture’ effect is agnostic to parent phenotype and captures unmeasured heritable parent behaviours. We applied RDR in a sample of 11,598 parent-offspring trios from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) to estimate parental genetic nurture separately from direct child genetic effects on anxiety and depression symptoms at age 8. We tested for mediation of genetic nurture via maternal anxiety and depression symptoms. Results were compared to a complementary non-genomic pedigree model.ResultsParental genetic nurture explained 14% of the variance in depression symptoms at age 8. Subsequent analyses suggested that maternal anxiety and depression partially mediated this effect. The genetic nurture effect was mirrored by the finding of family environmental influence in our pedigree model. In contrast, variance in anxiety symptoms was not significantly influenced by common genetic variation in children or parents, despite a moderate pedigree heritability.ConclusionsGenomic methods like RDR represent new opportunities for genetically sensitive family research on complex human traits, which until now has been largely confined to adoption, twin and other pedigree designs. Our results are relevant to debates about the role of parents in the development of anxiety and depression in children, and possibly where to intervene to reduce problems.

【 授权许可】

CC BY