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Genetic liability to posttraumatic stress disorder and its association with postpartum depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2022

Kathrine Bang Madsen Open the ORCID record for Kathrine Bang Madsen [Opens in a new window] ,
Xiaoqin Liu ,
Clara Albiñana ,
Bjarni Jóhann Vilhjálmsson ,
Esben Agerbo ,
Preben Bo Mortensen ,
David Michael Hougaard ,
Merete Nordentoft ,
Thomas Werge  and
Ole Mors
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Kathrine Bang Madsen*
Affiliation:
NCRR – National Centre for Register-based Research, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark iPSYCH, The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Denmark
Xiaoqin Liu
Affiliation:
NCRR – National Centre for Register-based Research, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark iPSYCH, The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Denmark
Clara Albiñana
Affiliation:
NCRR – National Centre for Register-based Research, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark iPSYCH, The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Denmark
Bjarni Jóhann Vilhjálmsson
Affiliation:
NCRR – National Centre for Register-based Research, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark iPSYCH, The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Denmark Bioinformatics Research Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Esben Agerbo
Affiliation:
NCRR – National Centre for Register-based Research, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark iPSYCH, The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Denmark CIRRAU – Centre for Integrated Register-based Research, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Preben Bo Mortensen
Affiliation:
NCRR – National Centre for Register-based Research, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark iPSYCH, The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Denmark CIRRAU – Centre for Integrated Register-based Research, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
David Michael Hougaard
Affiliation:
iPSYCH, The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Denmark Department for Congenital Disorders, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
Merete Nordentoft
Affiliation:
iPSYCH, The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Denmark CORE – Copenhagen Research Centre for Mental Health, Mental Health Centre Copenhagen, Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Thomas Werge
Affiliation:
iPSYCH, The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Denmark Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Institute of Biological Psychiatry, Mental Health Services, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark Lundbeck Foundation Center for GeoGenetics, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Ole Mors
Affiliation:
iPSYCH, The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Denmark Psychosis Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital – Psychiatry, Aarhus, Denmark
Anders D. Børglum
Affiliation:
iPSYCH, The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Denmark Department of Biomedicine and the iSEQ Center, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine, CGPM, Aarhus, Denmark
Trine Munk-Olsen
Affiliation:
NCRR – National Centre for Register-based Research, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark iPSYCH, The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Denmark Research Unit of Psychiatry, Institute for Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
*
Author for correspondence: Kathrine Bang Madsen, E-mail: kathrine.bang@econ.au.dk
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Abstract

Background

Childbirth may be a traumatic experience and vulnerability to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may increase the risk of postpartum depression (PPD). We investigated whether genetic vulnerability to PTSD as measured by polygenic score (PGS) increases the risk of PPD and whether a predisposition to PTSD in PPD cases exceeds that of major depressive disorder (MDD) outside the postpartum period.

Methods

This case-control study included participants from the iPSYCH2015, a case-cohort of all singletons born in Denmark between 1981 and 2008. Restricting to women born between 1981 and 1997 and excluding women with a first diagnosis other than depression (N = 22 613), 333 were identified with PPD. For each PPD case, 999 representing the background population and 993 with MDD outside the postpartum were matched by calendar year at birth, cohort selection, and age. PTSD PGS was calculated from summary statistics from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium with LDpred2-auto. Odds ratios (ORs) were estimated using conditional logistic regression adjusted for parental psychiatric history and country of origin, PGS for MDD and age at first birth, and the first 10 principal components.

Results

The PTSD PGS was significantly associated with PPD (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.20–1.68 per standard deviation increase in PTSD PGS) compared to healthy female controls. Genetic PTSD vulnerability in PPD cases did not exceed that of matched female depression cases outside the postpartum period (OR 1.10, 95% CI 0.94–1.30 per standard deviation increase).

Conclusions

Genetic vulnerability to PTSD increased the risk of PPD but did not differ between PPD cases and women with depression at other times.

Keywords

Childbirthgeneticspostpartum depressionposttraumatic stress disorder
Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 53 , Issue 11 , August 2023 , pp. 5052 - 5059
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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