#geneticrisk — Public Fediverse posts
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DATE: September 5, 2026 at 06:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Over half the risk for postpartum psychosis is tied to genetics, large study finds
New research published in Molecular Psychiatry indicates that postpartum psychosis is heavily influenced by both common and rare genetic factors, with about half of the risk tied to genetics. The study also identified a specific gene involved in cholesterol production that provides evidence for shared biological pathways between postpartum psychosis, schizophrenia, and certain autoimmune conditions.
Postpartum psychosis is a rare but severe mental health emergency that occurs in roughly 1 to 2 out of every 1,000 mothers shortly after childbirth. It involves an abrupt onset of symptoms like mania, severe depression, confusion, and psychosis, which is when a person loses touch with reality through hallucinations or delusions. The condition poses heavy risks to both the mother and the infant, often requiring immediate medical hospitalization.
Earlier research established that this vulnerability has deep biological roots. A 2001 study showed that the tendency to experience a severe psychotic episode triggered specifically by childbirth runs strongly in families. Moving beyond familial history, a 2013 study discovered that women experiencing their first episode of postpartum psychosis show disruptions in their immune systems.
Alongside these immune factors, metabolic changes have also been implicated, as a 2017 meta-analysis suggested that people going through their first psychotic episode tend to have altered cholesterol levels. These findings paved the way for large-scale genetic sequencing to pinpoint the exact genes and shared biological pathways involved. To build on these insights, researchers led by Seulgi Jung and study co-author Behrang Mahjani, an assistant professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai who directs the Mahjani Lab, aimed to detail the specific genetic architecture of postpartum psychosis.
“Postpartum psychosis is a severe but understudied psychiatric disorder,” Mahjani told PsyPost. “Our previous study showed that sisters of women with postpartum psychosis have a markedly elevated risk, but its heritability had not been quantified and no specific risk genes had been identified. We therefore examined the contribution of both common and rare genetic variation to the disorder.”
The researchers first used data from Swedish national registers to estimate the overall genetic risk of the disorder. They examined health records from over 1.6 million mothers who gave birth to their first child between 1980 and 2017. Among this massive group, 2,514 mothers, or 0.15 percent, developed postpartum psychosis.
By tracking the health records of the mothers’ sisters and cousins, the researchers estimated the heritability of postpartum psychosis to be 55 percent. This indicates that more than half of the variation in who develops the condition can be attributed to genetic factors, a rate similar to that of bipolar disorder.
“The genetic contribution is substantial,” Mahjani explained. “Heritability in this range means that inherited variation accounts for a large share of the differences in vulnerability between individuals, comparable to what is seen for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.”
“This supports the view that postpartum psychosis reflects an underlying biological vulnerability rather than being simply a psychological reaction to the stress of childbirth,” he added.
To see how much of this heritability comes from common genetic variations, the team turned to the All of Us Research Program, a large national database of genetic and health information. They focused on whole-genome sequencing data from 198 mothers of European ancestry who had experienced postpartum psychosis, comparing them to 2,013 matched controls.
The team found that common genetic variants explained about 45.6 percent of the risk for postpartum psychosis. Because this is slightly lower than the 55 percent heritability estimated from family histories, it suggests that rarer genetic variations also play a role in the disorder.
The researchers then looked closely at rare genetic changes, specifically focusing on protein-truncating variants. These are severe mutations that essentially break a gene, preventing it from producing a functional protein. They analyzed a larger sample of 461 cases of postpartum psychosis and 4,610 unaffected controls.
Women with postpartum psychosis had an unusually high number of these disruptive mutations in genes that are generally highly constrained, meaning the genes do not usually tolerate mutations well without causing major biological problems. Based on these mutation patterns, the researchers estimated that there are around 81 specific genes that contribute to the risk of postpartum psychosis.
When analyzing which individual genes were most affected, the gene HMGCR stood out strongly. This gene contains the instructions for making a key enzyme that controls how the body produces cholesterol. A second gene, DNMT1, which helps maintain how DNA is regulated and read by the body, also showed a possible, though less certain, link to the disorder.
“The rare variants in HMGCR have large effects in the people who carry them, which is what allowed us to detect the gene despite a relatively modest sample,” Mahjani noted.
However, he cautioned against oversimplifying this connection. “HMGCR should not be read as ‘the postpartum psychosis gene,'” he said. “It is one of the many genes contributing to risk, and like other severe psychiatric disorders the condition is highly polygenic.”
To explore the broader impact of these genes, the researchers checked for mutations in HMGCR and DNMT1 across hundreds of thousands of individuals in two large medical biobanks. They found that rare mutations in HMGCR were also linked to conditions like vascular dementia and unspecified mental disorders, indicating the gene influences brain health outside of the postpartum period.
Finally, the researchers compared their list of genetic risk factors for postpartum psychosis against genes known to cause other illnesses. They found that a substantial percentage of the top risk genes for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia were also linked to postpartum psychosis. Additionally, they noted a genetic overlap with autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, myasthenia gravis, and Crohn’s disease, with HMGCR appearing as a top risk gene for both schizophrenia and rheumatoid arthritis.
“The results were largely consistent with what genetic studies of related psychiatric disorders would predict,” Mahjani said.
There are a few things to keep in mind regarding this study. First, definitions of postpartum psychosis can vary across different medical records. The registry data used in the study often lacked the precise end dates of episodes, which makes it harder to classify the exact duration of the illness.
The researchers also did not separate women whose postpartum psychosis was their very first psychiatric episode from those who had a pre-existing condition, such as bipolar disorder. As a result, some of the genetic patterns they found might reflect severe mental illness in general rather than factors entirely unique to the postpartum period.
Additionally, the genetic sequencing data relied heavily on individuals of European ancestry, meaning the results might not fully capture the genetic risk factors present in other populations. Future studies with more diverse groups will help provide a more complete picture of the condition’s genetic roots.
“Our immediate priority is to replicate these findings in larger samples,” Mahjani said of the team’s next steps. “Beyond that, we want to understand how the genes we identified actually function in the disorder, and how genetic vulnerability interacts with the hormonal and immune changes that occur during and after pregnancy.”
“Mainly that postpartum psychosis has been remarkably understudied relative to its severity,” he concluded. “Progress will depend on continued access to the kind of large-scale genomic resources that made this work possible, such as the All of Us Research Program, and on studies large enough to identify additional risk genes with confidence.”
The study, “Genetic architecture of postpartum psychosis: from common to rare genetic variation,” was authored by Seulgi Jung, Madison Caballero, Adrianna Kępińska, Shelby Smout, Trine Munk-Olsen, Thalia K. Robakis, Veerle Bergink, and Behrang Mahjani.
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #PostpartumPsychosis #GeneticRisk #MentalHealthResearch #HMGCR #DNMT1 #CholesterolGenes #SchizophreniaOverlap #BipolarDisorder #AutoimmuneLinks #GenomicsStudy
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DATE: August 28, 2026 at 11:45PM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: Your sleep may be hiding an early clue to Alzheimer’s
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260828005218.htm
Frequent micro-awakenings during sleep were linked to higher genetic risk for Alzheimer’s in healthy middle-aged adults who had no symptoms. The discovery raises the possibility that subtle changes during sleep could offer an early warning signal years before memory problems appear.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260828005218.htm
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #Alzheimers #SleepScience #MicroAwakenings #EarlyDetection #BrainHealth #GeneticRisk #HealthyAging #MemoryCare #SleepResearch #Neurology
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DATE: August 23, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Multi-ancestry study explores how DNA and trauma affect smoking habits
URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-trauma-symptoms-and-genetic-risk-combine-to-influence-smoking-habits/
New research reveals how a person’s genetics and trauma symptoms combine to affect their tobacco use after a distressing event. The findings suggest that people with a lower genetic predisposition for tobacco use might actually be more vulnerable to smoking when experiencing specific trauma symptoms. The large study was published in Translational Psychiatry.
About 70 percent of people experience a traumatic event during their lifetime. Roughly 10 percent of those individuals go on to develop post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. People with PTSD frequently struggle with substance use, including tobacco and alcohol consumption. Both PTSD and substance use behaviors are influenced by a mix of life experiences and biological factors.
Past research has linked PTSD to higher rates of smoking and drinking. What is less understood is how trauma symptoms interact with a person’s underlying genetic risk for substance use. Substance use behavior is heavily influenced by genetics, with many small variations in a person’s DNA contributing to their overall risk.
Researchers calculate this cumulative biological vulnerability using a mathematical tool called a polygenic risk score. A polygenic risk score works by scanning thousands of genetic variations across a person’s genome. Researchers assign a weight to each variation based on how strongly it links to a trait, and then they add those weights together to create a single score.
Most previous studies looking at how genes and the environment interact have focused on isolated genetic markers or populations of entirely European descent. Henri M. Garrison-Desany, a researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, led a team to investigate how overall genetic risk and trauma interact in a diverse group of people. The researchers wanted to see if specific elements of PTSD had distinct relationships with substance use when factoring in genetic risk.
The team analyzed data from 2,973 adults who had recently experienced a traumatic event. The participants were recruited within 72 hours of visiting an emergency department. The most common traumatic event reported was a motor vehicle collision, followed by physical or sexual assaults. The participants provided blood samples, which the team used to extract DNA and calculate polygenic risk scores for tobacco and alcohol use.
Because genetic research has historically overrepresented people of European descent, standard genetic risk scores often perform poorly in diverse populations. To address this bias, the researchers used a specialized statistical method designed to estimate genetic risk across multiple ancestries. The study group included individuals of predominantly African, European, and admixed American ancestries.
The participants completed surveys to track their mental health and behavior over the following months. The researchers measured PTSD symptoms at eight weeks after the initial trauma. They then looked at how often and how much the participants smoked or drank alcohol at six months after the event. The team divided PTSD symptoms into four categories: avoidance, hyperarousal, negative cognition and mood, and re-experiencing the trauma.
When looking at the genetic scores alone, the researchers found that higher polygenic risk scores for tobacco were associated with an increase in the risk of using tobacco at the six-month mark. The genetic scores for alcohol use did not show consistent associations with drinking behavior across the entire diverse cohort. The alcohol genetic score only reliably predicted drinking behavior in the subgroup of participants with European ancestry.
Next, the researchers examined how PTSD symptoms and genetic risk interacted. They found that trauma symptoms and genetic predisposition did not simply add together to create a massive risk for tobacco use. Instead, they observed an antagonistic effect. The association between trauma symptoms and subsequent tobacco use was weaker for individuals who already had a high genetic risk for tobacco use.
Conversely, people with a lower genetic risk for tobacco use showed a stronger association between their trauma symptoms and their smoking habits. If a person was not biologically predisposed to use tobacco, experiencing high levels of post-traumatic stress was linked to a noticeable increase in smoking. This suggests that people with a lower baseline risk might be highly sensitive to the environmental stress of a trauma.
This pattern was particularly apparent for two specific types of PTSD symptoms. Re-experiencing symptoms, such as flashbacks or nightmares, interacted strongly with the genetic scores. A similar interaction appeared for negative alterations in cognition and mood, which involves persistent negative emotions or distorted beliefs about oneself. For both of these symptom categories, the participants with the lowest genetic risk showed the sharpest increase in tobacco use in response to the symptoms.
The researchers did not find this type of interaction between PTSD symptoms and the genetic risk for alcohol consumption. Alcohol use was highly prevalent among the participants before the trauma occurred, which might have masked any changes related to the traumatic event itself. In addition, the genetic scores for alcohol were not consistently associated with drinking when adjusting for prior mental health conditions.
The study relies on self-reported survey data to measure substance use, which can introduce errors if participants underreport their habits. The types of trauma experienced by the participants were also heavily skewed toward car accidents. Other types of trauma, such as combat exposure or chronic abuse, often result in different symptom profiles that might interact differently with genetic risk.
While the researchers used advanced methods to account for diverse ancestries, the underlying genetic reference data still largely stems from European populations. As a result, the genetic risk scores remained most accurate for participants of European descent and underperformed in individuals of African and Indigenous American ancestries. Building more diverse genetic databases is a necessary step for making polygenic risk scores accurate for the general public.
These results point toward a threshold effect for substance use risk among trauma survivors. If a person already possesses a high biological risk for smoking, the added stress of a trauma might not elevate their risk much further. In contrast, those without a high genetic risk are more visibly affected by the onset of trauma symptoms. Identifying the specific symptoms that drive people to use substances could eventually help clinicians tailor treatments for trauma survivors based on their unique symptom profiles.
The study, “Post-traumatic stress and genetic interactions affect tobacco and alcohol use after trauma: findings from a multi-ancestry cohort,” was authored by Henri M. Garrison-Desany, Cecilia A. Hinojosa, Justin D. Tubbs, Jacquelyn L. Meyers, Sarah D. Linnstaedt, Stacey L. House, Francesca L. Beaudoin, Xinming An, Jennifer S. Stevens, Thomas C. Neylan, Gari D. Clifford, Laura T. Germine, Scott L. Rauch, John P. Haran, Alan B. Storrow, Paul I. Musey Jr, Phyllis L. Hendry, Sophia Sheikh, Christopher W. Jones, Brittany E. Punches, Jose L. Pascual, Mark J. Seamon, Erica Harris, Claire Pearson, David A. Peak, Roland C. Merchant, Robert M. Domeier, Brian J. O’Neil, Paulina Sergot, Leon D. Sanchez, Steven E. Bruce, Steven E. Harte, Samuel A. McLean, Kerry J. Ressler, Karestan C. Koenen, and Christy A. Denckla.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-trauma-symptoms-and-genetic-risk-combine-to-influence-smoking-habits/
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #TraumaAndGenes #PTSDResearch #TobaccoUse #GeneticRisk #PolygenicRiskScore #MultiAncestryStudy #SmokingRisk #TraumaSymptoms #PublicHealth #TranslationalPsychiatry
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Does Mediterranean diet reduce the risk of dementia?
The food that people choose could have a powerful impact on the risk of developing dementia. That’s according to a new study that found following a Mediterranean diet …
#dining #cooking #diet #food #mediterranean #MediterraneanDiet #MediterraneanFood #Alzheimer'sDisease #dementia #geneticrisk #MassGeneralBrigham #Mediterranean #mediterraneanfood
https://www.diningandcooking.com/2251581/does-mediterranean-diet-reduce-the-risk-of-dementia/