Uncovering the genetic underpinnings for different psychiatric disorder combinations

Abstract

Psychiatric disorders are highly heterogeneous, and it is clinically meaningful to distinguish psychiatric disorders by the presence or absence of a specific comorbid condition. In this study, we employed a recently developed algorithm (CombGWAS) to decipher the genetic basis of psychiatric disorder combinations. The focus was on comorbidities and combinations of disorders, such as major depressive disorder(MDD) with and without schizophrenia(SCZ), which can be considered as two ‘subtypes’ of MDD. We also studied psychiatric disorders comorbid with obesity as disease subtypes.