Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Depression in Sri Lanka

Overview

Journal Br J Psychiatry

Publisher Cambridge University Press

Specialty Psychiatry

Date 2009 Dec 2

PMID 19949199

Citations 12

Authors

Harriet A Ball

Athula Sumathipala

Sisira H Siribaddana

Yulia Kovas

Nick Glozier

Peter McGuffin

Matthew Hotopf

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Susceptibility to depression results from genetic and non-familially shared environmental influences in high-income, Western countries. Environments may play a different role for populations in different contexts.

Aims: To examine heritability of depression in the first large, population-based twin study in a low-income country.

Method: Lifetime depression and a broader measure of depression susceptibility (D-probe) were assessed in 3908 adult twins in Sri Lanka (the CoTASS study).

Results: There were gender differences for the broad definition (D-probe), with a higher genetic contribution in females (61%) than males (4%). Results were similar for depression, but the prevalence was too low to estimate heritability for males.

Conclusions: Genetic influences on depression in women appear to be at least as strong in this Sri Lankan sample as in higher-income countries. Conclusions are less clear for men but suggest a larger role for environments rather than genes. The nature as well as the magnitude of environmental influences may also differ across populations.

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The aetiological relationship between depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life: A population-based twin study in Sri Lanka.

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Nas Z, Zavos H, Sumathipala A, Jayaweera K, Siribaddana S, Hotopf M Behav Genet. 2021; 51(4):394-404.

PMID: 33604755 PMC: 8225527. DOI: 10.1007/s10519-021-10051-1.

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