The British Journal of Psychiatry (2009) 195: 504-509. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.109.063529
© 2009 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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Genetic and environmental contributions to depression in Sri Lanka

Harriet A. Ball, PhD

MRC Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, UK

Athula Sumathipala, MBBS, DFM, MD, MRCPsych, PhD

Sri Lanka Twin Registry, Institute of Research and Development, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka and Section of Epidemiology, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, UK

Sisira H. Siribaddana, MBBS MD

Sri Lanka Twin Registry, Institute of Research and Development, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka

Yulia Kovas, PhD

MRC Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, UK

Nick Glozier, MSc, PhD, MRCPsych

Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Australia, and Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, UK

Peter McGuffin, MB, PhD, FRCP, FRCPsych, FMedSci

MRC Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, UK

Matthew Hotopf, BSc MBBS MSc PhD MRCPsych

Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, UK

Correspondence: Correspondence: Harriet Ball, MRC Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK. Email: harriet.ball{at}kcl.ac.uk

Declaration of interest

P.M. has received honoraria from Eli Lilly and GSK and has acted as a consultant in the recent past for GSK and Astra Zeneca. N.G. has received honoraria from Sanofi-Aventis and Servier.

Background

Susceptibility to depression results from genetic and non-familially shared environmental influences in high-income, Western countries. Environments may play a different role for populations in different contexts.

Aims

To examine heritability of depression in the first large, population-based twin study in a low-income country.

Method

Lifetime depression and a broader measure of depression susceptibility (D-probe) were assessed in 3908 adult twins in Sri Lanka (the CoTASS study).

Results

There were gender differences for the broad definition (D-probe), with a higher genetic contribution in females (61%) than males (4%). Results were similar for depression, but the prevalence was too low to estimate heritability for males.

Conclusions

Genetic influences on depression in women appear to be at least as strong in this Sri Lankan sample as in higher-income countries. Conclusions are less clear for men but suggest a larger role for environments rather than genes. The nature as well as the magnitude of environmental influences may also differ across populations.