Genomic risk scores can help predict early-onset depression, but only in conjunction with other factors, new research suggests.
Investigators found that polygenic risk score (PRS) had no edge over other risk factors in predicting early-onset depression but that it was useful in identifying depression risk in conjunction with parental psychiatric history and socioeconomic status (SES).
"Both polygenic and family factors are associated with a child's long-term risk of developing severe depression," lead author Esben Agerbo, DrMedSc, professor, Lundbeck Foundation for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark, told Medscape Medical News.
"Given our current understanding, we cannot say genetic factors are more predictive of depression, but they are a great addition to usual factors," said Agerbo, who is also a professor at the School of Business and Social Sciences.
The study was published online January 13 in JAMA Psychiatry.
Genetic "Hype"
PRS is a predictive measure based on the concept that underlying susceptibility to major depression is "polygenic," meaning that the heritable component is "distributed across numerous genetic variants," the authors note.
"Estimates of the genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism–based hereditability...range from approximately 8% to 32%, depending on phenotype definition, and PRSs (a weighted sum of total polygenic burden) explain approximately 1.9% of the variance," they add.
