Healio (12/12, Gramigna) reports investigators “have identified eight psychiatric disorders that share a common genetic structure.” For the study, researchers “used genome-wide association analyses of 232,964 individuals diagnosed with one of eight psychiatric disorders – anorexia nervosa,” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), “autism spectrum disorder [ASD], bipolar disorder, major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and Tourette syndrome,” and then “also analyzed genetic data of 494,162 healthy controls.” The study revealed “shared variants” that “allowed the researchers to classify conditions into three groups by their related genetics – those characterized by compulsive behaviors, including anorexia nervosa, OCD and, to a lesser extent, Tourette syndrome; mood and psychotic disorders including bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia; and early-onset neurodevelopmental disorders including ASD,” AD/HD “and Tourette syndrome.” The findings were published online Dec. 12 in the journal Cell.
Related Links:
— “ADHD, autism and 6 psychiatric disorders share common genetic structure, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, December 12, 2019