Polygenic risk, stressful life events and depressive symptoms in older adults: a polygenic score analysis.

TitlePolygenic risk, stressful life events and depressive symptoms in older adults: a polygenic score analysis.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2015
AuthorsMusliner, KL, Seiffudin, F, Judy, JA, Pirooznia, M, Goes, FS, Zandi, PP
JournalPsychol Med
Volume45
Issue8
Pagination1709-20
Date Published2015 Jun
ISSN Number1469-8978
Keywordsdepression, Depressive Disorder, Major, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Humans, Life Change Events, Male, Middle Aged, Multifactorial Inheritance, Odds Ratio, Risk Factors, United States
Abstract

BACKGROUND: Previous studies suggest that the relationship between genetic risk and depression may be moderated by stressful life events (SLEs). The goal of this study was to assess whether SLEs moderate the association between polygenic risk of major depressive disorder (MDD) and depressive symptoms in older adults.

METHOD: We used logistic and negative binomial regressions to assess the associations between polygenic risk, SLEs and depressive symptoms in a sample of 8761 participants from the Health and Retirement Study. Polygenic scores were derived from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium genome-wide association study of MDD. SLEs were operationalized as a dichotomous variable indicating whether participants had experienced at least one stressful event during the previous 2 years. Depressive symptoms were measured using an eight-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale subscale and operationalized as both a dichotomous and a count variable.

RESULTS: The odds of reporting four or more depressive symptoms were over twice as high among individuals who experienced at least one SLE (odds ratio 2.19, 95% confidence interval 1.86-2.58). Polygenic scores were significantly associated with depressive symptoms (β = 0.21, p ⩽ 0.0001), although the variance explained was modest (pseudo r 2 = 0.0095). None of the interaction terms for polygenic scores and SLEs was statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS: Polygenic risk and SLEs are robust, independent predictors of depressive symptoms in older adults. Consistent with an additive model, we found no evidence that SLEs moderated the association between common variant polygenic risk and depressive symptoms.

DOI10.1017/S0033291714002839
User Guide Notes

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25488392?dopt=Abstract

Alternate JournalPsychol Med
Citation Key8615
PubMed ID25488392
PubMed Central IDPMC4412793
Grant ListU01 MH085520 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
U01 AG009740 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
MH080403 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
MH085520 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
2T32MH014592-36 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
U01AG009740 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
R01 MH080403 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
T32 MH014592 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States