Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Feb 1;173(2):158-65.
doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2015.15010085. Epub 2015 Sep 4.

Heritability of Perinatal Depression and Genetic Overlap With Nonperinatal Depression

Alexander Viktorin  1 , Samantha Meltzer-Brody  1 , Ralf Kuja-Halkola  1 , Patrick F Sullivan  1 , Mikael Landén  1 , Paul Lichtenstein  1 , Patrik K E Magnusson  1
Affiliations

Heritability of Perinatal Depression and Genetic Overlap With Nonperinatal Depression

Alexander Viktorin et al. Am J Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Objective: The authors investigated the relative importance of genetic and environmental influences on perinatal depression, and the genetic overlap between perinatal depression and nonperinatal depression.

Method: Analyses were conducted using structural equation modeling for 1) the lifetime version of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale in 3,427 Swedish female twins and 2) clinical diagnoses of depression separated into perinatal depression and nonperinatal depression in a Swedish population-based cohort of 580,006 sisters.

Results: In the twin study, the heritability of perinatal depression was estimated at 54% (95% CI=35%-70%), with the remaining variance attributable to nonshared environment (46%; 95% CI=31%-65%). In the sibling design, the heritability of perinatal depression was estimated at 44% (95% CI=35%-52%) and the heritability of nonperinatal depression at 32% (95% CI=24%-41%). Bivariate analysis showed that 14% of the total variance (or 33% of the genetic variance) in perinatal depression was unique for perinatal depression.

Conclusions: The heritability of perinatal depression was estimated at 54% and 44%, respectively, in separate samples, and the heritability of nonperinatal depression at 32%. One-third of the genetic contribution was unique to perinatal depression and not shared with nonperinatal depression, suggesting only partially overlapping genetic etiologies for perinatal depression and nonperinatal depression. The authors suggest that perinatal depression constitutes a subset of depression that could be prioritized for genomic discovery efforts. The study findings have direct translational impact that can assist clinicians in the counseling of their patients regarding risk and prognosis of perinatal depression.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types