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.
QIMR Home Page
GenEpi Home Page
About GenEpi
Publications
Contacts
Research
Staff Index
Collaborators
Software Tools
Computing Resources
Studies
Search
GenEpi Intranet
PMID
39956653
TITLE
Mental health and sleep correlates of self-reported outdoor daylight exposure in over 13,000 adults with depression.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND NlmCategory: BACKGROUND
Increasing daylight exposure might be a simple way to improve mental health. However, little is known about daylight-symptom associations in depressive disorders.
METHODS NlmCategory: METHODS
Increasing daylight exposure might be a simple way to improve mental health. However, little is known about daylight-symptom associations in depressive disorders. In a subset of the Australian Genetics of Depression Study ( = 13,480; 75% female), we explored associations between self-reported number of hours spent in daylight on a typical workday and free day and seven symptom dimensions: depressive (overall, somatic, psychological); hypo-manic-like; psychotic-like; insomnia; and daytime sleepiness. Polygenic scores for major depressive disorder (MDD); bipolar disorder (BD); and schizophrenia (SCZ) were calculated. Models were adjusted for age, sex, shift work status, employment status, season, and educational attainment. Exploratory analyses examined age-stratified associations (18-24 years; 25-34 years; 35-64 years; 65 and older). Bonferroni-corrected associations ( < 0.004) are discussed.
RESULTS NlmCategory: RESULTS
Increasing daylight exposure might be a simple way to improve mental health. However, little is known about daylight-symptom associations in depressive disorders. In a subset of the Australian Genetics of Depression Study ( = 13,480; 75% female), we explored associations between self-reported number of hours spent in daylight on a typical workday and free day and seven symptom dimensions: depressive (overall, somatic, psychological); hypo-manic-like; psychotic-like; insomnia; and daytime sleepiness. Polygenic scores for major depressive disorder (MDD); bipolar disorder (BD); and schizophrenia (SCZ) were calculated. Models were adjusted for age, sex, shift work status, employment status, season, and educational attainment. Exploratory analyses examined age-stratified associations (18-24 years; 25-34 years; 35-64 years; 65 and older). Bonferroni-corrected associations ( < 0.004) are discussed. Adults with depression reported spending a median of one hour in daylight on workdays and three hours on free days. More daylight exposure on workdays and free days was associated with lower depressive (overall, psychological, somatic) and insomnia symptoms ( 's<0.001), but higher hypo-manic-like symptoms ( 's<0.002). Genetic loading for MDD and SCZ were associated with less daylight exposure in unadjusted correlational analyses (effect sizes were not meaningful). Exploratory analyses revealed age-related heterogeneity. Among 18-24-year-olds, no symptom dimensions were associated with daylight. By contrast, for the older age groups, there was a pattern of more daylight exposure and lower insomnia symptoms ( < 0.003) (except for 25-34-year-olds on free days, = 0.019); and lower depressive symptoms with more daylight on free days, and to some extent workdays (depending on the age-group).
CONCLUSIONS NlmCategory: CONCLUSIONS
Increasing daylight exposure might be a simple way to improve mental health. However, little is known about daylight-symptom associations in depressive disorders. In a subset of the Australian Genetics of Depression Study ( = 13,480; 75% female), we explored associations between self-reported number of hours spent in daylight on a typical workday and free day and seven symptom dimensions: depressive (overall, somatic, psychological); hypo-manic-like; psychotic-like; insomnia; and daytime sleepiness. Polygenic scores for major depressive disorder (MDD); bipolar disorder (BD); and schizophrenia (SCZ) were calculated. Models were adjusted for age, sex, shift work status, employment status, season, and educational attainment. Exploratory analyses examined age-stratified associations (18-24 years; 25-34 years; 35-64 years; 65 and older). Bonferroni-corrected associations ( < 0.004) are discussed. Adults with depression reported spending a median of one hour in daylight on workdays and three hours on free days. More daylight exposure on workdays and free days was associated with lower depressive (overall, psychological, somatic) and insomnia symptoms ( 's<0.001), but higher hypo-manic-like symptoms ( 's<0.002). Genetic loading for MDD and SCZ were associated with less daylight exposure in unadjusted correlational analyses (effect sizes were not meaningful). Exploratory analyses revealed age-related heterogeneity. Among 18-24-year-olds, no symptom dimensions were associated with daylight. By contrast, for the older age groups, there was a pattern of more daylight exposure and lower insomnia symptoms ( < 0.003) (except for 25-34-year-olds on free days, = 0.019); and lower depressive symptoms with more daylight on free days, and to some extent workdays (depending on the age-group). Exploration of the causal status of daylight in depression is warranted.
DATE PUBLISHED
2025 Feb 17
HISTORY
PUBSTATUS PUBSTATUSDATE
medline 2025/03/07 06:22
pubmed 2025/02/17 00:21
entrez 2025/02/16 22:12
AUTHORS
NAME COLLECTIVENAME LASTNAME FORENAME INITIALS AFFILIATION AFFILIATIONINFO
Crouse JJ Crouse Jacob J JJ Youth Mental Health and Technology Team, Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Park SH Park Shin Ho SH Youth Mental Health and Technology Team, Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Mitchell BL Mitchell Brittany L BL Mental Health and Neuroscience Program, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Byrne EM Byrne Enda M EM Child Health Research Centre, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Medland SE Medland Sarah E SE Mental Health and Neuroscience Program, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Lin T Lin Tian T Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Scott J Scott Jan J Academic Psychiatry, Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
de Haan Z de Haan Zsofi Z Youth Mental Health and Technology Team, Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Tonini E Tonini Emiliana E Youth Mental Health and Technology Team, Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Iorfino F Iorfino Frank F Youth Mental Health and Technology Team, Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Wray NR Wray Naomi R NR Oxford Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Martin NG Martin Nicholas G NG Mental Health and Neuroscience Program, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Hickie IB Hickie Ian B IB Youth Mental Health and Technology Team, Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
INVESTIGATORS
JOURNAL
VOLUME: 68
ISSUE: 1
TITLE: European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists
ISOABBREVIATION: Eur Psychiatry
YEAR: 2025
MONTH: Feb
DAY: 17
MEDLINEDATE:
SEASON:
CITEDMEDIUM: Internet
ISSN: 1778-3585
ISSNTYPE: Electronic
MEDLINE JOURNAL
MEDLINETA: Eur Psychiatry
COUNTRY: England
ISSNLINKING: 0924-9338
NLMUNIQUEID: 9111820
PUBLICATION TYPE
PUBLICATIONTYPE TEXT
Journal Article
COMMENTS AND CORRECTIONS
GRANTS
GRANTID AGENCY COUNTRY
2016346 National Health and Medical Research Council
GENERAL NOTE
KEYWORDS
KEYWORD
chronobiology
circadian
daylight
insomnia
mood disorders
sunlight
MESH HEADINGS
DESCRIPTORNAME QUALIFIERNAME
Humans
Female
Male
Adult
Middle Aged
Adolescent
Self Report
Young Adult
Australia epidemiology
Aged epidemiology
Sleep physiology
Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders psychology
Depressive Disorder, Major epidemiology
Mental Health epidemiology
Bipolar Disorder psychology
Schizophrenia epidemiology
SUPPLEMENTARY MESH
GENE SYMBOLS
CHEMICALS
OTHER ID's
Designed by: GenEpi IT
Maintained by: GenEpi IT
Feedback: webmaster
Copyright © 2007 QIMR
For more information Contact Us
epiit@qimr.edu.au
Last Modified: Oct 15 2007