Genetic risk of mental health conditions may influence where people  
  choose to live, study suggests  
    
    Date:  
        October 27, 2021  
    Source:  
        King's College London  
    Summary:  
        Research on around 386,000 UK adults has found that a high genetic  
        risk for schizophrenia and other mental health conditions, including  
        bipolar disorder, anorexia and autism, is associated with living  
        in and moving to urban areas. In contrast, people with low genetic  
        risk of ADHD preferentially moved from rural/suburban environments  
        to cities.  
    
    
    
  FULL STORY  
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  Living in cities has been highlighted as an environmental risk  
  factor for schizophrenia and, to a lesser extent, other mental health  
  conditions. However, few studies have explored genetic effects on the  
  choice of residence.  
    
    
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  New research, published in JAMA Psychiatry, challenges the proposals that  
  city- living is a simple environmental risk factor for schizophrenia  
  or that those with diagnosed mental health conditions move to cities  
  seeking better access to healthcare services. Instead, the research  
  suggests that genetic liability to a variety of mental health conditions  
  may affect an individual's choice of residence.  
    
  The research was part-funded by the National Institute for Health Research  
  (NIHR) Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre.  
    
  First author Jessye Maxwell, PhD candidate from Institute of Psychiatry,  
  Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London, said:  
  "Our research shows that at some level an individual's genes select  
  their environment and that the relationship between environmental and  
  genetic influences on mental health is interrelated. This overlap needs  
  to be considered when developing models to predict the risk of people  
  developing mental health conditions in the future.  
    
  "Importantly the majority of those people in our analysis did not have  
  a diagnosed mental health condition so we are showing that across the UK  
  adult population this genetic risk for mental health conditions plays a  
  role in the environment that people live."  Using the genetic data from  
  385,793 UK Biobank participants aged 37 to 73, the researchers calculated  
  the polygenic risk score (PRS) for each individual for different mental  
  health conditions. The PRS assesses the genetic liability across the  
  entire genome of each individual rather than analysing liability at the  
  level of individual genes.  
    
  The relationship to where people currently live and where they have moved  
  to was analysed using address history and geographical distribution of  
  population density in the UK based on census data from 1931 to 2011.  
    
  The study revealed higher genetic risks of schizophrenia, bipolar  
  disorder, anorexia and autism spectrum disorder and lower genetic risk  
  for ADHD in those who moved from rural to urban areas, compared to those  
  who stayed in rural areas.  
    
  Lead author, Dr Evangelos Vassos, Research Fellow at the IoPPN, King's  
  College London and Consultant Psychiatrist said: "Our study provides  
  further evidence that genetic liability to a variety of mental disorders  
  may contribute to the choice of a person's environment. The findings do  
  not negate the important role that environment plays in the development of  
  mental health conditions but it does suggest that we need more integrated  
  approaches when exploring the causes of psychiatric disorders.  
    
  "The findings on ADHD are particularly interesting as, unlike other mental  
  health conditions, people at low genetic risk of developing ADHD appear  
  to have the tendency to move to cities. This observation highlights  
  the importance of examining the low end of the distribution of genetic  
  liability and not only focusing on people at high risk. More research  
  is needed to understand the possible reasons behind this distinction."  
  The study was carried out by researchers from the Social, Genetic  
  and Developmental Psychiatry Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry,  
  Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London.  
    
  Census data was provided through www.VisionofBritain.org.uk and uses  
  statistical material which is copyright of the Great Britain Historical  
  GIS Project, Humphrey Southall and the University of Portsmouth.  
    
  ==========================================================================  
  Story Source: Materials provided by King's_College_London. Note: Content  
  may be edited for style and length.  
    
    
  ==========================================================================  
  Journal Reference:  
     1. Jessye M. Maxwell, Jonathan R. I. Coleman, Gerome Breen, Evangelos  
        Vassos. Association Between Genetic Risk for Psychiatric Disorders  
        and the Probability of Living in Urban Settings. JAMA Psychiatry,  
        2021; DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.2983  
  ==========================================================================  
    
  Link to news story:  
  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211027121940.htm  
    
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