Depression, ADHD and Co Mental illnesses are genetically linked

Study shows: Many diseases of the brain are genetically related

An international study has shown that genetic relationships exist between certain diseases of the brain. This increases the risk of developing a correspondingly correlated disease in the case of illness.

Mental illnesses are widespread

According to health experts, every fourth person suffers from a mental disorder such as depression at some point in their lives. Scientific research has shown that we all have the facilities in it for us. When suffering from such a disease, there is a high risk of contracting another psychiatric or neurological disease. Because many diseases of the brain are genetically related to each other.

A new study has shown that certain diseases of the brain are genetically related. This increases the risk of developing a correspondingly correlated disease in the case of illness. (Image: denisismagilov / fotolia.com)

Genetic relations between certain diseases

In a worldwide study of the international "Brainstorm Consortium", the genome of 1.1 million patients with psychiatric and neurological diseases was analyzed for the first time.

As it is stated in a communication of the Medical University (MedUni) Vienna, it could be shown that genetic relationships exist between certain diseases of the brain.

For example, psychiatric illnesses such as anxiety disorders and depression correlate significantly.

The results of the study were recently published in the journal "Science".

"There is no" pure "depression"

The diagnosis of psychiatric disorders, such as anorexia, depression or schizophrenia, has been predominantly phenotypically based on the symptoms.

However, this usually resulted in a certain blurring, because many classification models do not sufficiently describe the actual diseases.

Andreas Karwautz, child and adolescent psychiatrist at the University Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of MedUni Vienna and co-author of the study explained:

"There is no 'pure' depression, or 'pure' anorexia that does not show symptoms of other mental disorders. A diagnosis is always heterogeneous. "

Analyzed data on the genome of over one million people

The international study by the Brainstorm Consortium, a consortium of Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology research groups, has now analyzed data on the genome of approximately 265,000 psychiatric and neurological patients and 785,000 healthy individuals.

According to the information, it was investigated whether diseases with certain genetic characteristics are related to each other. For the current study, common genes of a total of fifteen neurological and ten psychiatric disorders were reviewed.

Data from patients with eating disorders from the University Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry came from MedUni Vienna.

The study authors focused on three areas of investigation: psychiatric and neurological diseases were considered as separate groups and then compared.

Great genetic similarities

The main finding was that some psychiatric disorders have a high genetic similarity, which increases the risk of developing the correlated disease in case of illness.

This applies to schizophrenia, depressive episodes, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder and ADHD (attention deficit syndrome), but not to Tourette syndrome and autism.

These showed hardly any genetic correlations. Depression and anxiety, in turn, are genetically closely related, even if the symptoms are different.

The same applies to anorexia and obsessive compulsive disorder, as well as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

As a result of the second focus, neurological disorders are generally more genetically different in their group from one another.

The third center of gravity analysis showed that they also differ genetically from psychiatric disorders, with the exception of migraine. There were correlations with ADHD, Tourette syndrome and depressive episodes.

The study thus showed that overlaps occur in specific genetic systems, again challenging the traditional diagnostic classifications.

Similarly, it can be seen from the material that genetically-correlated diseases, such as psychosis, have similar symptoms that occur in both schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease.

"This genome analysis with relevant high case numbers for the first time is a good basis for improving the psychiatric classification models by means of neurobiologically based diagnostics," says Karwautz. (Ad)