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Genetic Overlap Between Type 2 Diabetes and Depression in a Sri Lankan Population Twin Sample
Carol Kan1, Kaushalya Jayaweera, Anushka Adikari
1From the Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (Kan, Hotopf, Ismail), King's College London, London, United Kingdom; Institute for Research and Development (Jayaweera, Adikari, Sumathipala), Colombo; Department of Medicine, University of Rajarata (Siribaddana), Mihintale, Sri Lanka; Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (Zavos), King's College London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Public Health Sciences (Aschan), Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden; Research Institute for Primary Care and Health Science (Sumathipala), Keele University, Newcastle, United Kingdom; and Social Genetic and Developmental Research Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (Rijsdijk), King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Objective:
Results from twin studies examining the genetic overlap between type 2 diabetes and depression are currently inconclusive. This question has not been addressed in non-Western populations. We aimed to examine whether there are common genetic factors between type 2 diabetes and depression in a Sri Lankan population using genetic model-fitting analysis.
Method:
The Colombo Twin and Singleton Study-Phase 2 consists of 2019 singletons, and 842 monozygotic and 578 dizygotic twin pairs. The primary outcomes were self-reported type 2 diabetes diagnosis and Beck Depression Inventory scores. Standard bivariate twin models were fitted to estimate the genetic and environmental (co)variance of type 2 diabetes and depression.
Results:
In the best-fitting model, the phenotypic correlation between type 2 diabetes and depression was significant in female individuals only (r = 0.15 [0.08-0.21]). This association was primarily attributed to a significant genetic correlation between the traits (rA = 0.53 [0.19-0.98]).
Conclusions:
In female individuals, but not male individuals, we found a significant genetic overlap between type 2 diabetes and depression in the context of a modest phenotypic correlation.
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