Developmental Trajectory and Genetic Markers of Body Weight in Offspring of Parents with Mood Disorders

Abstract

Individuals with mood disorders have a greater risk of experiencing metabolic health issues, including increased weight. When parents transmit risk of developing a mood disorder to their children, they also transmit this metabolic risk. We examined the timeframe over which offspring of parents with mood disorders began to display increased weight compared to offspring of unaffected parents. We found that females over age twelve with a family history of mood disorders showed a marked increase in body weight compared to females without a family history. We then investigated the relationship between the genetic predisposition to mood disorders and body weight, as well as the relationship between the genetic predisposition to metabolic traits and depressive symptoms. No association was found between mood disorder polygenic scores and body mass index nor between metabolic polygenic scores and depressive symptoms. These findings strengthen our understanding of how markers of metabolic health manifest in youth at risk for developing mood disorders.