TY - JOUR
T1 - Genetic influences on post-natal depressive symptoms
T2 - Findings from an Australian twin sample
AU - Treloar, Susan A.
AU - Martin, N. G.
AU - Bucholz, K. K.
AU - Madden, P. A.F.
AU - Heath, A. C.
PY - 1999
Y1 - 1999
N2 - Background. Conflicting evidence exists on causes of vulnerability to post-natal depression. We investigated genetic and environmental influences on variation in post-natal depressive symptoms (PNDS) following first live birth, and sources of covariation with the personality trait Neuroticism and lifetime major depression occurring post-natally (DEP-PN) and at other times (DEP-XPN) to test for shared genetic influences. Method. Retrospective interview and questionnaire data from 838 parous female twin pairs (539 monozygotic, 299 dizygotic) from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council volunteer adult twin register were used for multivariate genetic model-fitting. Data on PNDS were evaluated for consistency with diagnostic interview assessment. Results. Genetic factors explained 38% of variance in PNDS (95% confidence interval 26-49%) and 25% of the variance in interview-assessed DEP-PN. The genetic correlation between PNDS and lifetime major depression (DEP-PN and DEP-XPN) was low (r(g) =0.17, 95% confidence interval = 0.09-0.28), suggesting that the questionnaire was measuring a construct other than postnatally occurring major depression, possibly post-natal dysphoria. Associations between PNDS and obstetric factors were very modest. Conclusions. Findings suggest modest genetic influences on major depression occurring postnatally. Independent and stronger genetic influences identified for post-natal symptomatology or dysphoria (PNDS) justify further investigation.
AB - Background. Conflicting evidence exists on causes of vulnerability to post-natal depression. We investigated genetic and environmental influences on variation in post-natal depressive symptoms (PNDS) following first live birth, and sources of covariation with the personality trait Neuroticism and lifetime major depression occurring post-natally (DEP-PN) and at other times (DEP-XPN) to test for shared genetic influences. Method. Retrospective interview and questionnaire data from 838 parous female twin pairs (539 monozygotic, 299 dizygotic) from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council volunteer adult twin register were used for multivariate genetic model-fitting. Data on PNDS were evaluated for consistency with diagnostic interview assessment. Results. Genetic factors explained 38% of variance in PNDS (95% confidence interval 26-49%) and 25% of the variance in interview-assessed DEP-PN. The genetic correlation between PNDS and lifetime major depression (DEP-PN and DEP-XPN) was low (r(g) =0.17, 95% confidence interval = 0.09-0.28), suggesting that the questionnaire was measuring a construct other than postnatally occurring major depression, possibly post-natal dysphoria. Associations between PNDS and obstetric factors were very modest. Conclusions. Findings suggest modest genetic influences on major depression occurring postnatally. Independent and stronger genetic influences identified for post-natal symptomatology or dysphoria (PNDS) justify further investigation.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0032977471&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S0033291799008387
DO - 10.1017/S0033291799008387
M3 - Article
C2 - 10405086
AN - SCOPUS:0032977471
SN - 0033-2917
VL - 29
SP - 645
EP - 654
JO - Psychological medicine
JF - Psychological medicine
IS - 3
ER -