Reproductive fitness and genetic risk of psychiatric disorders in the general population

Niamh Mullins, Andrés Ingason, Heather Porter, Jack Euesden, Alexandra Gillett, Sigurgeir Ólafsson, Daniel F. Gudbjartsson, Cathryn M. Lewis, Engilbert Sigurdsson, Evald Saemundsen, Ólafur Ó Gudmundsson, Michael L. Frigge, Augustine Kong, Agnar Helgason, G. Bragi Walters, Omar Gustafsson, Hreinn Stefansson and Kari Stefansson ()
Additional contact information
Niamh Mullins: deCODE genetics
Andrés Ingason: deCODE genetics
Heather Porter: deCODE genetics
Jack Euesden: deCODE genetics
Alexandra Gillett: deCODE genetics
Sigurgeir Ólafsson: deCODE genetics
Daniel F. Gudbjartsson: deCODE genetics
Cathryn M. Lewis: deCODE genetics
Engilbert Sigurdsson: Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland
Evald Saemundsen: The State Diagnostic and Counselling Centre
Ólafur Ó Gudmundsson: deCODE genetics
Michael L. Frigge: deCODE genetics
Augustine Kong: deCODE genetics
Agnar Helgason: deCODE genetics
G. Bragi Walters: deCODE genetics
Omar Gustafsson: deCODE genetics
Hreinn Stefansson: deCODE genetics
Kari Stefansson: deCODE genetics

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract The persistence of common, heritable psychiatric disorders that reduce reproductive fitness is an evolutionary paradox. Here, we investigate the selection pressures on sequence variants that predispose to schizophrenia, autism, bipolar disorder, major depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using genomic data from 150,656 Icelanders, excluding those diagnosed with these psychiatric diseases. Polygenic risk of autism and ADHD is associated with number of children. Higher polygenic risk of autism is associated with fewer children and older age at first child whereas higher polygenic risk of ADHD is associated with having more children. We find no evidence for a selective advantage of a high polygenic risk of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Rare copy-number variants conferring moderate to high risk of psychiatric illness are associated with having fewer children and are under stronger negative selection pressure than common sequence variants.

Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms15833

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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15833

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