The role of ADHD genetic risk in mid-to-late life somatic health conditions

Garcia-Argibay, Miguel, du Rietz, Ebba, Lu, Yi, Martin, Joanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8911-3479, Haan, Elis, Letho, Kelli, Bergen, Sarah, Lichtenstein, Paul, Larsson, Henrik and Brikell, Isabell 2022. The role of ADHD genetic risk in mid-to-late life somatic health conditions. Translational Psychiatry 12 (1) , 152. 10.1038/s41398-022-01919-9

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Abstract

Growing evidence suggests that ADHD, an early onset neurodevelopmental disorder, is associated with poor somatic health in adulthood. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations are poorly understood. Here, we tested whether ADHD polygenic risk scores (PRS) are associated with mid-to-late life somatic health in a general population sample. Furthermore, we explored whether potential associations were moderated and mediated by life-course risk factors. We derived ADHD-PRS in 10,645 Swedish twins born between 1911 and 1958. Sixteen cardiometabolic, autoimmune/inflammatory, and neurological health conditions were evaluated using self-report (age range at measure 42–88 years) and clinical diagnoses defined by International Classification of Diseases codes in national registers. We estimated associations of ADHD-PRS with somatic outcomes using generalized estimating equations, and tested moderation and mediation of these associations by four life-course risk factors (education level, body mass index [BMI], tobacco use, alcohol misuse). Results showed that higher ADHD-PRS were associated with increased risk of seven somatic outcomes (heart failure, cerebro- and peripheral vascular disease, obesity, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and migraine) with odds ratios ranging 1.07 to 1.20. We observed significant mediation effects by education, BMI, tobacco use, and alcohol misuse, primarily for associations of ADHD-PRS with cardiometabolic outcomes. No moderation effects survived multiple testing correction. Our findings suggests that higher ADHD genetic liability confers a modest risk increase for several somatic health problems in mid-to-late life, particularly in the cardiometabolic domain. These associations were observable in the general population, even in the absence of medical treatment for ADHD, and appear to be in part mediated by life-course risk factors.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Advanced Research Computing @ Cardiff (ARCCA) MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (CNGG) Medicine
Additional Information:	This article has been corrected. See Transl Psychiatry. 2022 Apr 21;12(1):166. https://doi.org.10.1038/s41398-022-01933-x
Publisher:	Springer Nature [academic journals on nature.com]
ISSN:	2158-3188
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	1 April 2022
Date of Acceptance:	24 March 2022
Last Modified:	23 Jul 2024 15:48
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/149015

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