Polygenic Risk and Progression to Bipolar or Psychotic Disorders Among Individuals Diagnosed With Unipolar Depression in Early Life.

OBJECTIVE: The authors investigated the associations between polygenic liability and progression to bipolar disorder or psychotic disorders among individuals diagnosed with unipolar depression in early life. METHODS: A cohort comprising 16,949 individuals (69% female, 10-35 years old at the first depression diagnosis) from the iPSYCH Danish case-cohort study (iPSYCH2012) who were diagnosed with depression in Danish psychiatric hospitals from 1994 to 2016 was examined. Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) for major depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia were generated using the most recent results from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. Hazard ratios for each disorder-specific PRS were estimated using Cox regressions with adjustment for the other two PRSs. Absolute risk of progression was estimated using the cumulative hazard. RESULTS: Patients were followed for up to 21 years (median=7 years, interquartile range, 5-10 years). The absolute risks of progression to bipolar disorder and psychotic disorders were 7.3% and 13.8%, respectively. After mutual adjustment for the other PRSs, only the PRS for bipolar disorder predicted progression to bipolar disorder (adjusted hazard ratio for a one-standard-deviation increase in PRS=1.11, 95% CI=1.03, 1.21), and only the PRS for schizophrenia predicted progression to psychotic disorders (adjusted hazard ratio=1.10, 95% CI=1.04, 1.16). After adjusting for PRSs, parental history still strongly predicted progression to bipolar disorder (adjusted hazard ratio=5.02, 95% CI=3.53, 7.14) and psychotic disorders (adjusted hazard ratio=1.63, 95% CI=1.30, 2.06). CONCLUSIONS: PRSs for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are associated with risk for progression to bipolar disorder or psychotic disorders, respectively, among individuals diagnosed with depression; however, the effects are small compared with parental history, particularly for bipolar disorder.

Cuba: exploring the history of admixture and the genetic basis of pigmentation using autosomal and uniparental markers.

We carried out an admixture analysis of a sample comprising 1,019 individuals from all the provinces of Cuba. We used a panel of 128 autosomal Ancestry Informative Markers (AIMs) to estimate the admixture proportions. We also characterized a number of haplogroup diagnostic markers in the mtDNA and Y-chromosome in order to evaluate admixture using uniparental markers. Finally, we analyzed the association of 16 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with quantitative estimates of skin pigmentation. In the total sample, the average European, African and Native American contributions as estimated from autosomal AIMs were 72%, 20% and 8%, respectively. The Eastern provinces of Cuba showed relatively higher African and Native American contributions than the Western provinces. In particular, the highest proportion of African ancestry was observed in the provinces of Guantánamo (40%) and Santiago de Cuba (39%), and the highest proportion of Native American ancestry in Granma (15%), Holguín (12%) and Las Tunas (12%). We found evidence of substantial population stratification in the current Cuban population, emphasizing the need to control for the effects of population stratification in association studies including individuals from Cuba. The results of the analyses of uniparental markers were concordant with those observed in the autosomes. These geographic patterns in admixture proportions are fully consistent with historical and archaeological information. Additionally, we identified a sex-biased pattern in the process of gene flow, with a substantially higher European contribution from the paternal side, and higher Native American and African contributions from the maternal side. This sex-biased contribution was particularly evident for Native American ancestry. Finally, we observed that SNPs located in the genes SLC24A5 and SLC45A2 are strongly associated with melanin levels in the sample.