BACKGROUND: There is strong evidence that people born in winter and in spring have a small increased risk of schizophrenia. As this 'season of birth' effect underpins some of the most influential hypotheses concerning potentially modifiable risk exposures, it is important to exclude other possible explanations for the phenomenon. METHODS: Here we sought to determine whether the season of birth effect reflects gene-environment confounding rather than a pathogenic process indexing environmental exposure. We directly measured, in 136 538 participants from the UK Biobank (UKBB), the burdens of common schizophrenia risk alleles and of copy number variants known to increase the risk for the disorder, and tested whether these were correlated with a season of birth. RESULTS: Neither genetic measure was associated with season or month of birth within the UKBB sample. CONCLUSIONS: As our study was highly powered to detect small effects, we conclude that the season of birth effect in schizophrenia reflects a true pathogenic effect of environmental exposure.
BACKGROUND: There is strong evidence that people born in winter and in spring have a small increased risk of schizophrenia. As this 'season of birth' effect underpins some of the most influential hypotheses concerning potentially modifiable risk exposures, it is important to exclude other possible explanations for the phenomenon. METHODS: Here we sought to determine whether the season of birth effect reflects gene-environment confounding rather than a pathogenic process indexing environmental exposure. We directly measured, in 136 538 participants from the UK Biobank (UKBB), the burdens of common schizophrenia risk alleles and of copy number variants known to increase the risk for the disorder, and tested whether these were correlated with a season of birth. RESULTS: Neither genetic measure was associated with season or month of birth within the UKBB sample. CONCLUSIONS: As our study was highly powered to detect small effects, we conclude that the season of birth effect in schizophrenia reflects a true pathogenic effect of environmental exposure.
Entities:
Keywords:
Polygenic risk score; schizophrenia; season of birth
Authors: Ana Adan; Arantxa Y Arredondo; Maria Del Mar Capella; Gemma Prat; Diego A Forero; José Francisco Navarro Journal: Neurosci Biobehav Rev Date: 2017-02-07 Impact factor: 8.989
Authors: Bryan Howie; Christian Fuchsberger; Matthew Stephens; Jonathan Marchini; Gonçalo R Abecasis Journal: Nat Genet Date: 2012-07-22 Impact factor: 38.330
Authors: Piotr Dittwald; Tomasz Gambin; Przemyslaw Szafranski; Jian Li; Stephen Amato; Michael Y Divon; Lisa Ximena Rodríguez Rojas; Lindsay E Elton; Daryl A Scott; Christian P Schaaf; Wilfredo Torres-Martinez; Abby K Stevens; Jill A Rosenfeld; Satish Agadi; David Francis; Sung-Hae L Kang; Amy Breman; Seema R Lalani; Carlos A Bacino; Weimin Bi; Aleksandar Milosavljevic; Arthur L Beaudet; Ankita Patel; Chad A Shaw; James R Lupski; Anna Gambin; Sau Wai Cheung; Pawel Stankiewicz Journal: Genome Res Date: 2013-05-08 Impact factor: 9.043
Authors: Elliott Rees; James T R Walters; Lyudmila Georgieva; Anthony R Isles; Kimberly D Chambert; Alexander L Richards; Gerwyn Mahoney-Davies; Sophie E Legge; Jennifer L Moran; Steven A McCarroll; Michael C O'Donovan; Michael J Owen; George Kirov Journal: Br J Psychiatry Date: 2013-12-05 Impact factor: 9.319
Authors: Bradley P Coe; Kali Witherspoon; Jill A Rosenfeld; Bregje W M van Bon; Anneke T Vulto-van Silfhout; Paolo Bosco; Kathryn L Friend; Carl Baker; Serafino Buono; Lisenka E L M Vissers; Janneke H Schuurs-Hoeijmakers; Alex Hoischen; Rolph Pfundt; Nik Krumm; Gemma L Carvill; Deana Li; David Amaral; Natasha Brown; Paul J Lockhart; Ingrid E Scheffer; Antonino Alberti; Marie Shaw; Rosa Pettinato; Raymond Tervo; Nicole de Leeuw; Margot R F Reijnders; Beth S Torchia; Hilde Peeters; Brian J O'Roak; Marco Fichera; Jayne Y Hehir-Kwa; Jay Shendure; Heather C Mefford; Eric Haan; Jozef Gécz; Bert B A de Vries; Corrado Romano; Evan E Eichler Journal: Nat Genet Date: 2014-09-14 Impact factor: 38.330
Authors: Sinan Guloksuz; Lotta-Katrin Pries; Philippe Delespaul; Gunter Kenis; Jurjen J Luykx; Bochao D Lin; Alexander L Richards; Berna Akdede; Tolga Binbay; Vesile Altınyazar; Berna Yalınçetin; Güvem Gümüş-Akay; Burçin Cihan; Haldun Soygür; Halis Ulaş; EylemŞahin Cankurtaran; Semra Ulusoy Kaymak; Marina M Mihaljevic; Sanja Andric Petrovic; Tijana Mirjanic; Miguel Bernardo; Bibiana Cabrera; Julio Bobes; Pilar A Saiz; María Paz García-Portilla; Julio Sanjuan; Eduardo J Aguilar; José Luis Santos; Estela Jiménez-López; Manuel Arrojo; Angel Carracedo; Gonzalo López; Javier González-Peñas; Mara Parellada; Nadja P Maric; Cem Atbaşog Lu; Alp Ucok; Köksal Alptekin; Meram Can Saka; Celso Arango; Michael O'Donovan; Bart P F Rutten; Jim van Os Journal: World Psychiatry Date: 2019-06 Impact factor: 49.548
Authors: Grace E Woolway; Sophie E Smart; Amy J Lynham; Jennifer L Lloyd; Michael J Owen; Ian R Jones; James T R Walters; Sophie E Legge Journal: Schizophr Bull Date: 2022-09-01 Impact factor: 7.348