Parental history of psychiatric diagnoses and unipolar depression: a Danish National Register-based cohort study

Abstract

Background Depression is known to run in families, but the effects of parental history of other psychiatric diagnoses on depression rates are less well studied. Few studies have examined the impact of parental psychopathology on depression rates in older age groups. Methods We established a population-based cohort including all individuals born in Denmark after 1954 and alive on their 10th birthday (N=2,976,264). Exposure variables were maternal and paternal history of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety or ‘other’ psychiatric diagnoses. Incidence rate ratios (IRR) were estimated using poisson regressions. Results Parental history of any psychiatric diagnosis increased incidence rates of outpatient (maternal: IRR = 1.88, p < .0001; paternal: IRR = 1.68, p < .0001) and inpatient (maternal: IRR = 1.99, p < .0001; paternal: IRR = 1.83, p < .0001) depression relative to no parental history. IRRs for parental history of non-affective disorders remained relatively stable across age groups, while IRRs for parental affective disorders (unipolar or bipolar) decreased with age from 2.29–3.96 in the youngest age group to 1.53–1.90 in the oldest group. IRR estimates for all parental diagnoses were similar among individuals 41+ (IRR range: 1.51–1.90). Conclusions Parental history of any psychiatric diagnosis is associated with increased incidence rates of unipolar depression. In younger age groups, parental history of affective diagnoses is more strongly associated with rates of unipolar depression than non-affective diagnoses, however this distinction disappears after age 40, suggesting that parental psychopathology in general, rather than any one disorder, confers risk for depression in middle life.

Characterizing Developmental Trajectories and the Role of Neuropsychiatric Genetic Risk Variants in Early-Onset Depression

“… 2 , 3 Depression often first manifests in adolescence 4 , 5 , 6 and, thereafter, individual trajectories of depressive symptoms vary substantially. 7 A family history of depression and an early age at onset are each associated with a more chronic symptom course in adults with MDD, 8 , 9 , 10 but it is not known what shapes early depression trajectories in youth.…”

The association between paternal and adolescent depressive symptoms: evidence from two population-based cohorts

“…Many are small, containing few fathers, and their findings are inconsistent. [7][8][9][10][11][12] Some larger studies exist, but they either assess depression retrospectively 13 or use routine clinical data, 14 so are susceptible to recall and ascertainment bias. The only large prospective study that adjusted for maternal depression and did not rely on clinical data found no association between antenatal depression in fathers and adolescent depression at age 18 years.…”

Impaired Oxygenation of the Prefrontal Cortex During Verbal Fluency Task in Young Adults With Major Depressive Disorder and Suicidality: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study

“…The onset of MDD occurs before age of 40 years in about 50 percent of patients (7). There have been suggested that etiology, manifestation, and course of depression differ according to the age of onset; compared to later onset, earlier age at onset of MDD is associated with higher genetic loading, atypical symptoms, more irritability and anxiety, personality disorder, alcohol abuse, higher possibility of conversion to bipolar disorder, and poorer long-term outcome (7)(8)(9). Moreover, previous studies have consistently reported an increased suicidal risk in those with early onset (10)(11)(12).…”