Estimating the heritability of reporting stressful life events captured by common genetic variants

R. A. Power; T. Wingenbach; S. Cohen-Woods; R. Uher; M. Y. Ng; A. W. Butler; M. Ising; N. Craddock; M. J. Owen; A. Korszun; L. Jones; I. Jones; M. Gill; J. P. Rice; W. Maier; A. Zobel; O. Mors; A. Placentino; M. Rietschel; S. Lucae; F. Holsboer; E. B. Binder; Robert Keers; F. Tozzi; P. Muglia; G. Breen; I. W. Craig; B. Mueller-Myhsok; J. L. Kennedy; J. Strauss; J. B. Vincent; C. M. Lewis; A. E. Farmer; P. McGuffin

doi:10.1017/S0033291712002589

Estimating the heritability of reporting stressful life events captured by common genetic variants

R. A. Power^*, T. Wingenbach, S. Cohen-Woods, R. Uher, M. Y. Ng, A. W. Butler, M. Ising, N. Craddock, M. J. Owen, A. Korszun, L. Jones, I. Jones, M. Gill, J. P. Rice, W. Maier, A. Zobel, O. Mors, A. Placentino, M. Rietschel, S. LucaeF. Holsboer, E. B. Binder, Robert Keers, F. Tozzi, P. Muglia, G. Breen, I. W. Craig, B. Mueller-Myhsok, J. L. Kennedy, J. Strauss, J. B. Vincent, C. M. Lewis, A. E. Farmer, P. McGuffin

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Background. Although usually thought of as external environmental stressors, a significant heritable component has been reported for measures of stressful life events (SLEs) in twin studies.

Method. We examined the variance in SLEs captured by common genetic variants from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 2578 individuals. Genome-wide complex trait analysis (GCTA) was used to estimate the phenotypic variance tagged by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We also performed a GWAS on the number of SLEs, and looked at correlations between siblings.

Results. A significant proportion of variance in SLEs was captured by SNPs (30%, p = 0.04). When events were divided into those considered to be dependent or independent, an equal amount of variance was explained for both. This 'heritability' was in part confounded by personality measures of neuroticism and psychoticism. A GWAS for the total number of SLEs revealed one SNP that reached genome-wide significance (p = 4 x 10(-8)), although this association was not replicated in separate samples. Using available sibling data for 744 individuals, we also found a significant positive correlation of R-2 = 0.08 in SLEs (p = 0.03).

Conclusions. These results provide independent validation from molecular data for the heritability of reporting environmental measures, and show that this heritability is in part due to both common variants and the confounding effect of personality.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1965-1971
Number of pages	7
Journal	Psychological Medicine
Volume	43
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291712002589
Publication status	Published - Sept 2013

Keywords

GCTA
heritability of environment
personality
stressful life events
RECURRENT DEPRESSION
ADOLESCENT TWIN
ASSOCIATION
PSYCHOTICISM
PERSONALITY
POPULATION
SYMPTOMS
MANIA
ONSET
PAIRS
Acknowledged-BRC
Acknowledged-BRC-13/14

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10.1017/S0033291712002589

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Power, R. A., Wingenbach, T., Cohen-Woods, S., Uher, R., Ng, M. Y., Butler, A. W., Ising, M., Craddock, N., Owen, M. J., Korszun, A., Jones, L., Jones, I., Gill, M., Rice, J. P., Maier, W., Zobel, A., Mors, O., Placentino, A., Rietschel, M., ... McGuffin, P. (2013). Estimating the heritability of reporting stressful life events captured by common genetic variants. Psychological Medicine, 43(9), 1965-1971. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291712002589

@article{3b2c7ac780e94f51ba7a9b312403599e,

title = "Estimating the heritability of reporting stressful life events captured by common genetic variants",

abstract = "Background. Although usually thought of as external environmental stressors, a significant heritable component has been reported for measures of stressful life events (SLEs) in twin studies.Method. We examined the variance in SLEs captured by common genetic variants from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 2578 individuals. Genome-wide complex trait analysis (GCTA) was used to estimate the phenotypic variance tagged by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We also performed a GWAS on the number of SLEs, and looked at correlations between siblings.Results. A significant proportion of variance in SLEs was captured by SNPs (30%, p = 0.04). When events were divided into those considered to be dependent or independent, an equal amount of variance was explained for both. This 'heritability' was in part confounded by personality measures of neuroticism and psychoticism. A GWAS for the total number of SLEs revealed one SNP that reached genome-wide significance (p = 4 x 10(-8)), although this association was not replicated in separate samples. Using available sibling data for 744 individuals, we also found a significant positive correlation of R-2 = 0.08 in SLEs (p = 0.03).Conclusions. These results provide independent validation from molecular data for the heritability of reporting environmental measures, and show that this heritability is in part due to both common variants and the confounding effect of personality.",

keywords = "GCTA, heritability of environment, personality, stressful life events, RECURRENT DEPRESSION, ADOLESCENT TWIN, ASSOCIATION, PSYCHOTICISM, PERSONALITY, POPULATION, SYMPTOMS, MANIA, ONSET, PAIRS, Acknowledged-BRC, Acknowledged-BRC-13/14",

author = "Power, {R. A.} and T. Wingenbach and S. Cohen-Woods and R. Uher and Ng, {M. Y.} and Butler, {A. W.} and M. Ising and N. Craddock and Owen, {M. J.} and A. Korszun and L. Jones and I. Jones and M. Gill and Rice, {J. P.} and W. Maier and A. Zobel and O. Mors and A. Placentino and M. Rietschel and S. Lucae and F. Holsboer and Binder, {E. B.} and Robert Keers and F. Tozzi and P. Muglia and G. Breen and Craig, {I. W.} and B. Mueller-Myhsok and Kennedy, {J. L.} and J. Strauss and Vincent, {J. B.} and Lewis, {C. M.} and Farmer, {A. E.} and P. McGuffin",

year = "2013",

month = sep,

doi = "10.1017/S0033291712002589",

language = "English",

volume = "43",

pages = "1965--1971",

journal = "Psychological Medicine",

issn = "0033-2917",

publisher = "Cambridge University Press",

number = "9",

}

Power, RA , Wingenbach, T , Cohen-Woods, S , Uher, R , Ng, MY, Butler, AW, Ising, M, Craddock, N, Owen, MJ, Korszun, A, Jones, L, Jones, I, Gill, M, Rice, JP, Maier, W, Zobel, A, Mors, O, Placentino, A, Rietschel, M, Lucae, S, Holsboer, F, Binder, EB , Keers, R, Tozzi, F, Muglia, P, Breen, G , Craig, IW, Mueller-Myhsok, B, Kennedy, JL, Strauss, J, Vincent, JB, Lewis, CM , Farmer, AE & McGuffin, P 2013, 'Estimating the heritability of reporting stressful life events captured by common genetic variants', Psychological Medicine, vol. 43, no. 9, pp. 1965-1971. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291712002589

TY - JOUR

T1 - Estimating the heritability of reporting stressful life events captured by common genetic variants

AU - Power, R. A.

AU - Wingenbach, T.

AU - Cohen-Woods, S.

AU - Uher, R.

AU - Ng, M. Y.

AU - Butler, A. W.

AU - Ising, M.

AU - Craddock, N.

AU - Owen, M. J.

AU - Korszun, A.

AU - Jones, L.

AU - Jones, I.

AU - Gill, M.

AU - Rice, J. P.

AU - Maier, W.

AU - Zobel, A.

AU - Mors, O.

AU - Placentino, A.

AU - Rietschel, M.

AU - Lucae, S.

AU - Holsboer, F.

AU - Binder, E. B.

AU - Keers, Robert

AU - Tozzi, F.

AU - Muglia, P.

AU - Breen, G.

AU - Craig, I. W.

AU - Mueller-Myhsok, B.

AU - Kennedy, J. L.

AU - Strauss, J.

AU - Vincent, J. B.

AU - Lewis, C. M.

AU - Farmer, A. E.

AU - McGuffin, P.

PY - 2013/9

Y1 - 2013/9

N2 - Background. Although usually thought of as external environmental stressors, a significant heritable component has been reported for measures of stressful life events (SLEs) in twin studies.Method. We examined the variance in SLEs captured by common genetic variants from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 2578 individuals. Genome-wide complex trait analysis (GCTA) was used to estimate the phenotypic variance tagged by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We also performed a GWAS on the number of SLEs, and looked at correlations between siblings.Results. A significant proportion of variance in SLEs was captured by SNPs (30%, p = 0.04). When events were divided into those considered to be dependent or independent, an equal amount of variance was explained for both. This 'heritability' was in part confounded by personality measures of neuroticism and psychoticism. A GWAS for the total number of SLEs revealed one SNP that reached genome-wide significance (p = 4 x 10(-8)), although this association was not replicated in separate samples. Using available sibling data for 744 individuals, we also found a significant positive correlation of R-2 = 0.08 in SLEs (p = 0.03).Conclusions. These results provide independent validation from molecular data for the heritability of reporting environmental measures, and show that this heritability is in part due to both common variants and the confounding effect of personality.

AB - Background. Although usually thought of as external environmental stressors, a significant heritable component has been reported for measures of stressful life events (SLEs) in twin studies.Method. We examined the variance in SLEs captured by common genetic variants from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 2578 individuals. Genome-wide complex trait analysis (GCTA) was used to estimate the phenotypic variance tagged by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We also performed a GWAS on the number of SLEs, and looked at correlations between siblings.Results. A significant proportion of variance in SLEs was captured by SNPs (30%, p = 0.04). When events were divided into those considered to be dependent or independent, an equal amount of variance was explained for both. This 'heritability' was in part confounded by personality measures of neuroticism and psychoticism. A GWAS for the total number of SLEs revealed one SNP that reached genome-wide significance (p = 4 x 10(-8)), although this association was not replicated in separate samples. Using available sibling data for 744 individuals, we also found a significant positive correlation of R-2 = 0.08 in SLEs (p = 0.03).Conclusions. These results provide independent validation from molecular data for the heritability of reporting environmental measures, and show that this heritability is in part due to both common variants and the confounding effect of personality.

KW - GCTA

KW - heritability of environment

KW - personality

KW - stressful life events

KW - RECURRENT DEPRESSION

KW - ADOLESCENT TWIN

KW - ASSOCIATION

KW - PSYCHOTICISM

KW - PERSONALITY

KW - POPULATION

KW - SYMPTOMS

KW - MANIA

KW - ONSET

KW - PAIRS

KW - Acknowledged-BRC

KW - Acknowledged-BRC-13/14

U2 - 10.1017/S0033291712002589

DO - 10.1017/S0033291712002589

M3 - Article

C2 - 23237013

SN - 0033-2917

VL - 43

SP - 1965

EP - 1971

JO - Psychological Medicine

JF - Psychological Medicine

IS - 9

ER -

Estimating the heritability of reporting stressful life events captured by common genetic variants

Abstract

Keywords

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