i
Life stressors and 5-HTTLPR interaction in relation to mid-pregnancy depressive symptoms among African-American women
-
12 2011
Source: Psychiatr Genet. 21(6):271-280 -
Alternative Title:Psychiatr Genet
-
Personal Author:
-
Description:Objective
In previous analyses of non-Hispanic white women we found a stronger relation between abuse history and mid-pregnancy elevated depressive symptoms in women with the serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) S/S genotype. Here we focus on African-American women (N=698). Our inquiry is motivated by racial differences in depression diagnosis/treatment, stressors and frequency of major 5-HTTLPR alleles (S, LA, LG).
Methods
Stressful life events (lifetime) and depressive symptoms (current) were ascertained at 15–27 weeks gestation. A Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression score of ≥18 was considered “elevated”. Life events were scored together and separated into six sub-constructs. 5-HTTLPR genotypes were grouped as follows: 1) L and S alleles, 2) S-LG equivalence (“tri- to biallelic”) and 3) LA/LA, all others, S/S (“high/intermediate/low”). Odds ratios (OR) for “elevated” depressive symptoms-life events (total and sub-constructs) relations were calculated for each genotype grouping.
Results
The prevalence of “elevated” depressive symptoms did not vary by genotype. The relation between stressful life events and “elevated” depressive symptoms was stronger in S/S compared to LA/LA genotype (interaction P=0.11). Of the six sub-constructs, only abuse showed a statistically significant gene-environment interaction. The OR for the abuse- “elevated” depressive symptoms association was greater for S/S vs. LA/LA (interaction P= 0.03) and in the “tri- to biallelic” grouping (interaction P=0.04). In the “high/intermediate/low” grouping, “low” (S/S) had a higher OR (5.5) than both “intermediate” and “high” (ORs≤2.3) (interaction P=0.10).
Conclusions
These results show the importance of examining racial groups, specific stressful events and different 5-HTTLPR genotype groupings when exploring gene-environment interactions in depression.
-
Subjects:
-
Keywords:
-
Source:
-
Pubmed ID:22030619
-
Pubmed Central ID:PMC3205426
-
Document Type:
-
Funding:
-
Collection(s):
-
Main Document Checksum:
-
Download URL:
-
File Type: