Genetic Epidemiology, Translational Neurogenomics, Psychiatric Genetics and Statistical Genetics Laboratories investigate the pattern of disease in families, particularly identical and non-identical twins, to assess the relative importance of genes and environment in a variety of important health problems.
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PMID
27374135
TITLE
Hair Cortisol and Its Association With Psychological Risk Factors for Psychiatric Disorders: A Pilot Study in Adolescent Twins.
ABSTRACT
NlmCategory: UNASSIGNED
Measuring cortisol in hair is a promising method to assess long-term alterations of the biological stress response system, and hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) may be altered in psychiatric disorders and in subjects suffering from chronic stress. However, the pattern of associations between HCC, chronic stress and mental health require clarification. Our exploratory study: (1) assessed the association between HCC and perceived stress, symptoms of depression and neuroticism, and the trait extraversion (as a control variable); and (2) made use of the twin design to estimate the genetic and environmental covariance between the variables of interest. Hair samples from 109 (74 female) subjects (age range 12-21 years, mean 15.1) including 8 monozygotic (MZ) and 21 dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs were analyzed. Perceived stress was measured with the Perceived Stress Scale and/or the Daily Life and Stressors Scale, neuroticism, and extraversion with the NEO-Five Factor Inventory or the Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, and depressive symptoms with the Somatic and Psychological Health Report. We found a modest positive association between HCC and the three risk factors - perceived stress, symptoms of depression, and neuroticism (r = 0.22-0.33) - but no correlation with extraversion (-0.06). A median split revealed that the associations between HCC and risk factors were stronger (0.47-0.60) in those subjects with HCC >11.36 pg/mg. Furthermore, our results suggest that the genetic effects underlying HCC are largely shared with those that influence perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and neuroticism. These results of our proof of principle study warrant replication in a bigger sample but raise the interesting question of the direction of causation between these variables.
DATE PUBLISHED
2016 Jul 4
HISTORY
PUBSTATUS PUBSTATUSDATE
entrez 2016/07/05 06:00
pubmed 2016/07/05 06:00
medline 2016/07/05 06:00
AUTHORS
NAME COLLECTIVENAME LASTNAME FORENAME INITIALS AFFILIATION AFFILIATIONINFO
Rietschel L Rietschel Liz L Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,University Psychiatric Hospital,Bern,Switzerland.
Streit F Streit Fabian F Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry,Central Institute of Mental Health,Medical Faculty Mannheim,University of Heidelberg,Mannheim,Germany.
Zhu G Zhu Gu G Genetic Epidemiology,Queensland Institute of Medical Research,Brisbane,Australia.
McAloney K McAloney Kerrie K Genetic Epidemiology,Queensland Institute of Medical Research,Brisbane,Australia.
Kirschbaum C Kirschbaum Clemens C Department of Psychology,Technische Universität Dresden,Dresden,Germany.
Frank J Frank Josef J Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry,Central Institute of Mental Health,Medical Faculty Mannheim,University of Heidelberg,Mannheim,Germany.
Hansell NK Hansell Narelle K NK Genetic Epidemiology,Queensland Institute of Medical Research,Brisbane,Australia.
Wright MJ Wright Margaret J MJ Genetic Epidemiology,Queensland Institute of Medical Research,Brisbane,Australia.
McGrath JJ McGrath John J JJ Queensland Brain Institute and Centre for Advanced Imaging,University of Queensland,Brisbane,Australia.
Witt SH Witt Stephanie H SH Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry,Central Institute of Mental Health,Medical Faculty Mannheim,University of Heidelberg,Mannheim,Germany.
Rietschel M Rietschel Marcella M Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry,Central Institute of Mental Health,Medical Faculty Mannheim,University of Heidelberg,Mannheim,Germany.
Martin NG Martin Nicholas G NG Genetic Epidemiology,Queensland Institute of Medical Research,Brisbane,Australia.
INVESTIGATORS
JOURNAL
VOLUME:
ISSUE:
TITLE: Twin research and human genetics : the official journal of the International Society for Twin Studies
ISOABBREVIATION: Twin Res Hum Genet
YEAR: 2016
MONTH: Jul
DAY: 4
MEDLINEDATE:
SEASON:
CITEDMEDIUM: Internet
ISSN: 1832-4274
ISSNTYPE: Electronic
MEDLINE JOURNAL
MEDLINETA: Twin Res Hum Genet
COUNTRY: England
ISSNLINKING: 1832-4274
NLMUNIQUEID: 101244624
PUBLICATION TYPE
PUBLICATIONTYPE TEXT
JOURNAL ARTICLE
COMMENTS AND CORRECTIONS
GRANTS
GENERAL NOTE
KEYWORDS
KEYWORD
depression
genetics
hair cortisol
neuroticism
stress
twin-study
MESH HEADINGS
SUPPLEMENTARY MESH
GENE SYMBOLS
CHEMICALS
OTHER ID's