Genetic risk of mental health conditions may influence where people
choose to live, study suggests

Date:
October 27, 2021
Source:
King's College London
Summary:
Research on around 386,000 UK adults has found that a high genetic
risk for schizophrenia and other mental health conditions, including
bipolar disorder, anorexia and autism, is associated with living
in and moving to urban areas. In contrast, people with low genetic
risk of ADHD preferentially moved from rural/suburban environments
to cities.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Living in cities has been highlighted as an environmental risk
factor for schizophrenia and, to a lesser extent, other mental health conditions. However, few studies have explored genetic effects on the
choice of residence.


==========================================================================
New research, published in JAMA Psychiatry, challenges the proposals that
city- living is a simple environmental risk factor for schizophrenia
or that those with diagnosed mental health conditions move to cities
seeking better access to healthcare services. Instead, the research
suggests that genetic liability to a variety of mental health conditions
may affect an individual's choice of residence.

The research was part-funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre.

First author Jessye Maxwell, PhD candidate from Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London, said:
"Our research shows that at some level an individual's genes select
their environment and that the relationship between environmental and
genetic influences on mental health is interrelated. This overlap needs
to be considered when developing models to predict the risk of people developing mental health conditions in the future.

"Importantly the majority of those people in our analysis did not have
a diagnosed mental health condition so we are showing that across the UK
adult population this genetic risk for mental health conditions plays a
role in the environment that people live." Using the genetic data from
385,793 UK Biobank participants aged 37 to 73, the researchers calculated
the polygenic risk score (PRS) for each individual for different mental
health conditions. The PRS assesses the genetic liability across the
entire genome of each individual rather than analysing liability at the
level of individual genes.

The relationship to where people currently live and where they have moved
to was analysed using address history and geographical distribution of population density in the UK based on census data from 1931 to 2011.

The study revealed higher genetic risks of schizophrenia, bipolar
disorder, anorexia and autism spectrum disorder and lower genetic risk
for ADHD in those who moved from rural to urban areas, compared to those
who stayed in rural areas.

Lead author, Dr Evangelos Vassos, Research Fellow at the IoPPN, King's
College London and Consultant Psychiatrist said: "Our study provides
further evidence that genetic liability to a variety of mental disorders
may contribute to the choice of a person's environment. The findings do
not negate the important role that environment plays in the development of mental health conditions but it does suggest that we need more integrated approaches when exploring the causes of psychiatric disorders.

"The findings on ADHD are particularly interesting as, unlike other mental health conditions, people at low genetic risk of developing ADHD appear
to have the tendency to move to cities. This observation highlights
the importance of examining the low end of the distribution of genetic liability and not only focusing on people at high risk. More research
is needed to understand the possible reasons behind this distinction."
The study was carried out by researchers from the Social, Genetic
and Developmental Psychiatry Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry,
Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London.

Census data was provided through www.VisionofBritain.org.uk and uses statistical material which is copyright of the Great Britain Historical
GIS Project, Humphrey Southall and the University of Portsmouth.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by King's_College_London. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Jessye M. Maxwell, Jonathan R. I. Coleman, Gerome Breen, Evangelos
Vassos. Association Between Genetic Risk for Psychiatric Disorders
and the Probability of Living in Urban Settings. JAMA Psychiatry,
2021; DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.2983 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211027121940.htm

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