An epigenetic association analysis of childhood trauma in psychosis reveals possible overlap with methylation changes associated with PTSD

Patients with a severe mental disorder report significantly higher levels of childhood trauma (CT) than healthy individuals. Studies have suggested that CT may affect brain plasticity through epigenetic mechanisms and contribute to developing various psychiatric disorders. We performed a blood-based epigenome-wide association study using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-short form in 602 patients with a current severe mental illness, investigating DNA methylation association separately for five trauma subtypes and the total trauma score. The median trauma score was set as the predefined cutoff for determining whether the trauma was present or not. Additionally, we compared our genome-wide results with methylation probes annotated to candidate genes previously associated with CT. Of the patients, 83.2% reported CT above the cutoff in one or more trauma subtypes, and emotional neglect was the trauma subtype most frequently reported. We identified one significant differently methylated position associated with the gene TANGO6 for physical neglect. Seventeen differentially methylated regions (DMRs) were associated with different trauma categories. Several of these DMRs were annotated to genes previously associated with neuropsychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder and cognitive impairments. Our results support a biomolecular association between CT and severe mental disorders. Genes that were previously identified as differentially methylated in CT-exposed subjects with and without psychosis did not show methylation differences in our analysis. We discuss this inconsistency, the relevance of our findings, and the limitations of our study.publishedVersio

An epigenetic association analysis of childhood trauma in psychosis reveals possible overlap with methylation changes associated with PTSD

Patients with a severe mental disorder report significantly higher levels of childhood trauma (CT) than healthy individuals. Studies have suggested that CT may affect brain plasticity through epigenetic mechanisms and contribute to developing various psychiatric disorders. We performed a blood-based epigenome-wide association study using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-short form in 602 patients with a current severe mental illness, investigating DNA methylation association separately for five trauma subtypes and the total trauma score. The median trauma score was set as the predefined cutoff for determining whether the trauma was present or not. Additionally, we compared our genome-wide results with methylation probes annotated to candidate genes previously associated with CT. Of the patients, 83.2% reported CT above the cutoff in one or more trauma subtypes, and emotional neglect was the trauma subtype most frequently reported. We identified one significant differently methylated position associated with the gene TANGO6 for physical neglect. Seventeen differentially methylated regions (DMRs) were associated with different trauma categories. Several of these DMRs were annotated to genes previously associated with neuropsychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder and cognitive impairments. Our results support a biomolecular association between CT and severe mental disorders. Genes that were previously identified as differentially methylated in CT-exposed subjects with and without psychosis did not show methylation differences in our analysis. We discuss this inconsistency, the relevance of our findings, and the limitations of our study

Cohort Profile: COVIDMENT: COVID-19 cohorts on mental health across six nations

Key features • COVIDMENT [www.covidment.is] is a NordForsk-funded research collaboration across six nations, with the overarching aim to significantly advance current knowledge on mental morbidity trajectories associated with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the general population and in specific risk groups. • From March 2020 through August 2021, 392 817 individuals have been recruited to the seven COVIDMENT cohorts: the Danish Blood Donor Study (N ¼ 71 562), the Estonian Biobank COVID-19 and Mental Health Data Collection cohorts (N ¼ 13 329 and N ¼ 86 116, respectively), the Icelandic COVID-19 National Resilience Cohort (N ¼ 22 849), the Norwegian BRY.DEG2020 (N ¼ 19 343), the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (N ¼ 132 486), the Scottish Generation Scotland/CovidLife (N ¼ 18 518) and the Swedish Omtanke2020 (N ¼ 28 614). Semi-harmonized questionnaire data have been collected across all COVIDMENT cohorts with longitudinal data available, e.g. through linkage to the national registers. • The average age of participants ranged from 31.8 to 58.5 years across cohorts. The prevalence of depressive symptoms above cut-off point varied considerably across cohorts (4.2–20.8%). The prevalence of depressive symptoms was highest at COVID-19 incidence of 30 cases per week per 100 000 persons, i.e. 14.3% [95% confidence interval (CI): 9.4–21.8%], which was 61.0% (95% CI: 34.0–94.1%) higher than the prevalence at COVID-19 incidence of 0 cases per week per 100 000 persons (P ¼ 1.1 x 10 ^( 6)).

Cohort Profile: COVIDMENT: COVID-19 cohorts on mental health across six nations

publishedVersio