Polygenic risk scores and help-seeking behaviour in young people with recent onset of mood and psychotic disorders.

OBJECTIVES

We examined associations between polygenic risk scores (PRS) for depression (PRS-MDD), psychosis (PRS-SCZ), bipolar disorders (PRS-BD) and neuroticism (PRS-NEU) and (i) help-seeking, and (ii) new onset cases of full-threshold mood or psychotic disorders in youth.

METHODS

Help-seeking for mental health problems was assessed by self-report and mood and psychotic disorders were identified using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. A principal component analysis of the four selected PRS identified two dimensions (BD-SCZ; MDD-NEU) that accounted for 69.9 % of the explained variance. We explored the associations between these PRS dimensions and help-seeking and diagnostic subgroup using analyses of co-variance (ANCOVA) adjusted for variables of influence (such as age, sex, twin status).

RESULTS

Almost 30 % (409 of 1473) of study participants met CIDI criteria for ≥ 1 mood or psychotic disorder. Overall, 60 % (n = 245) of CIDI cases sought help, ranging from 35 % for psychosis to 77 % for mania. Furthermore, 143 help-seekers did not have a CIDI diagnosis of mood or psychotic disorders. The BD-SCZ dimension showed associations with help-seeking behaviour and diagnostic groups, but the MDD-NEU dimension only showed associations with help-seeking.

LIMITATIONS: Some diagnoses could not be studied in detail (i.e., schizophreniform disorders) due to the small size of subgroups and planned analyses needed to be adjusted for the presence of twins and non-twin siblings.

CONCLUSIONS

Signals of genetic liability are higher in young people who seek help from health services whether or not the problem they are seeking help for meets full-threshold diagnostic criteria for a major mental disorder.