The association between genetically determined ABO blood types and major depressive disorder

Linda Garvert*, Dorret I. Boomsma, Sandra Van der Auwera, Major Depressive Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

ABO blood types and their corresponding antigens have long been assumed to be related to different human diseases. So far, smaller studies on the relationship between mental disorders and blood types yielded contradicting results. In this study we analyzed the association between ABO blood types and lifetime major depressive disorder (MDD). We performed a pooled analysis with data from 26 cohorts that are part of the MDD working group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC). The dataset included 37,208 individuals of largely European ancestry of which 41.6% were diagnosed with lifetime MDD. ABO blood types were identified using three single nucleotide polymorphisms in the ABO gene: rs505922, rs8176746 and rs8176747. Regression analyses were performed to assess associations between the individual ABO blood types and MDD diagnosis as well as putative interaction effects with sex. The models were adjusted for sex, cohort and the first ten genetic principal components. The percentage of blood type A was slightly lower in cases than controls while blood type O was more prominent in cases. However, these differences were not statistically significant. Our analyses found no evidence of an association between ABO blood types and major depressive disorder.

Original languageEnglish
Article number113837
Pages (from-to)1-5
Number of pages5
JournalPsychiatry Research
Volume299
Early online date24 Feb 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
L.G. was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG, grant no. 403694598). S.V. was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of the e:Med research and funding concept (Integrament; grant no. 01ZX1614E). H.J.G. has received travel grants and speakers honoraria from Fresenius Medical Care and Janssen Cilag. He has received research funding from the German Research Foundation, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the DAMP Foundation, Fresenius Medical Care, the EU "Joint Programme Neurodegenerative Disorders” (JPND: 01ED1615) and the European Social Fund (ESF). The PGC has received major funding from the US National Institute of Mental Health (5 U01MH109528-03).

Funding Information:
The Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP) is part of the Community Medicine Research net (CMR) ( http://www.medizin.uni-greifswald.de/icm ) of the University Medicine Greifswald, which is supported by the German Federal State of Mecklenburg- West Pomerania. MRI scans in SHIP and SHIP-TREND have been supported by a joint grant from Siemens Healthineers, Erlangen, Germany and the Federal State of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021

Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Funding

L.G. was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG, grant no. 403694598). S.V. was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of the e:Med research and funding concept (Integrament; grant no. 01ZX1614E). H.J.G. has received travel grants and speakers honoraria from Fresenius Medical Care and Janssen Cilag. He has received research funding from the German Research Foundation, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the DAMP Foundation, Fresenius Medical Care, the EU "Joint Programme Neurodegenerative Disorders” (JPND: 01ED1615) and the European Social Fund (ESF). The PGC has received major funding from the US National Institute of Mental Health (5 U01MH109528-03). The Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP) is part of the Community Medicine Research net (CMR) ( http://www.medizin.uni-greifswald.de/icm ) of the University Medicine Greifswald, which is supported by the German Federal State of Mecklenburg- West Pomerania. MRI scans in SHIP and SHIP-TREND have been supported by a joint grant from Siemens Healthineers, Erlangen, Germany and the Federal State of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.

FundersFunder number
CMR
Federal State of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania
German Federal State of Mecklenburg- West Pomerania
National Institute of Mental HealthU01MH109528
Fresenius Medical Care North America
European Commission01ED1615
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft403694598
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung01ZX1614E
European Social Fund
Damp Stiftung

    Keywords

    • Association study
    • Blood group
    • Blood type
    • Depression
    • MDD
    • PGC
    • Psychiatric disorders

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