Polygenic risk for schizophrenia disordered eating behaviours, and body mass index in a general population sample of adolescents

Solmi, Francesca, Mascarell, Marina Carbo, Zammit, Stanley ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2647-9211, Kirkbride, James B. and Lewis, Glyn 2019. Polygenic risk for schizophrenia disordered eating behaviours, and body mass index in a general population sample of adolescents. British Journal of Psychiatry 215 (1) , pp. 428-433. 10.1192/bjp.2019.39

Preview

PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (288kB) | Preview

Abstract

Background Recent studies suggest psychotic and eating disorders can be comorbid and could have shared genetic liability. However, this comorbidity has been overlooked in the epidemiological literature. Aims To test whether polygenic risk scores (PRS) for schizophrenia are associated with disordered eating behaviours and body mass index (BMI) in the general population. Method Using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children and random-effects logistic and linear regression models, we investigated the association between PRS for schizophrenia and self-reported disordered eating behaviours (binge eating, purging, fasting and excessive exercise) and BMI at 14, 16 and 18 years. Results Of the 6920 children with available genetic data, 4473 (64.6%) and 5069 (73.3%) had at least one disordered eating and one BMI outcome measurement, respectively. An s.d. increase in PRS was associated with greater odds of having binge eating behaviours (odds ratio, 1.36; 95% CI 1.16–1.60) and lower BMI (coefficient, −0.03; 95% CI, −0.06 to −0.01). Conclusions Our findings suggest the presence of shared genetic risk between schizophrenia and binge eating behaviours. Intermediate phenotypes such as impaired social cognition and irritability, previously shown to be positively correlated in this sample with schizophrenia PRS, could represent risk factors for both phenotypes. Shared genetic liability between binge eating and schizophrenia could also explain higher rates of metabolic syndrome in individuals with schizophrenia, as binge eating could be a mediator of this association in drug-naïve individuals. The finding of an association between greater PRS and lower BMI, although consistent with existing epidemiological and genetic literature, requires further investigation.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Medicine MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (CNGG)
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press (CUP)
ISSN:	0007-1250
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 January 2019
Date of Acceptance:	25 January 2019
Last Modified:	06 May 2023 05:40
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/119033

Citation Data

Cited 21 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item