Simulated distributions from negative experiments highlight the importance of the body mass index distribution in explaining depression-body mass index genetic risk score interactions.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Depression and obesity are complex global health problems. Recent studies suggest that a genetic predisposition to obesity might be accentuated in people with depression, but these analyses are prone to bias. Here, we tested the hypothesis that depression accentuates genetic susceptibility to obesity and applied negative control experiments to test whether any observed interactions were real or driven by confounding and statistical biases.

Methods

We used data from up to 378 000 Europeans in UK Biobank, a 73 variant body mass index (BMI) genetic risk score, two depression measures [depression symptoms (DS), major depression (MD)] and an antidepressant usage variable available. We tested whether (i) depression and (ii) antidepressant treatment accentuated genetic s

SUBMITTER: Casanova F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9557895 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature