Co-occurrence and symptomatology of fatigue and depression

Corfield, Elizabeth; Martin, Nicholas G.; Nyholt, Dale R.

doi:10.1016/j.comppsych.2016.08.004

Cited by 132 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Current depression classifications were obtained utilising a combination of responses from the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) 28 and the 14-item Delusions-Symptoms-States Inventory, States of Anxiety and Depression (DSSI/sAD) 29 questionnaires. As previously detailed, 30 specific questions from the GHQ and DSSI/sAD were assigned to the appropriate DSM-IV major depressive episode criteria. 19 If an individual exhibited at least five of the DSM-IV symptom criteria, of which either depressed mood or anhedonia was reported, they were assessed as suffering major depression.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A continuum of genetic liability for minor and major depression

et al. 2017

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The recent success of a large genome-wide association (GWA) study—analysing 130 620 major depression cases and 347 620 controls—in identifying the first single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci robustly associated with major depression in Europeans confirms that immense sample sizes are required to identify risk loci for depression. Given the phenotypic similarity between major depressive disorder (MDD) and the less severe minor depressive disorder (MiDD), we hypothesised that broadening the case definition to include MiDD may be an efficient approach to increase sample sizes in GWA studies of depression. By analysing two large twin pair cohorts, we show that minor depression and major depression lie on a single genetic continuum, with major depression being more severe but not aetiologically distinct from minor depression. Furthermore, we estimate heritabilities of 37% for minor depression, 46% for major depression and 48% for minor or major depression in a cohort of older adults (aged 50–92). However, the heritability of minor or major depression was estimated at 40% in a cohort of younger adults (aged 23–38). Moreover, two robust major depression-risk SNPs nominally associated with major depression in our Australian GWA data set produced more significant evidence for association with minor or major depression. Hence, broadening the case phenotype in GWA studies to include subthreshold definitions, such as MiDD, should facilitate the identification of additional genetic risk loci for depression.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A continuum of genetic liability for minor and major depression

et al. 2017

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“…Ten questions are contained in the SOFA; however, a shorter eight-item version was used in the Health and Lifestyle Questionnaire, due to two items being replicated within the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ; Goldberg & Blackwell, 1970) that was also administered to the participants. Responses to the eight SOFA and two GHQ items were used to assess fatigue within the cohort, as previously detailed (Corfield et al, 2016). Individuals were classified as fatigued if they reported three or more of the 10 fatigue symptoms (muscle pain at rest, post-exertional muscle pain, post-exertional muscle fatigue, post-exertional fatigue, hypersomnia, insomnia, poor concentration, speech problems, poor memory, and headaches) over the past few weeks.…”

Section: Study Cohort and Fatigue Classificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Familiality and Heritability of Fatigue in an Australian Twin Sample

2017

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Familial factors have previously been implicated in the etiology of fatigue, of which a significant proportion is likely attributable to genetic influences. However, family studies have primarily focused on chronic fatigue syndrome, while univariate twin studies have investigated broader fatigue phenotypes. The results for similar fatigue phenotypes vary between studies, particularly with regard to sex-specific contributions to the heritability of the traits. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate the familiality and sex-specific effects of fatigue experienced over the past few weeks in an older Australian population of 660 monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs, 190 MZ singleton twins, 593 dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs, and 365 DZ singleton twins. Higher risks for fatigue were observed in MZ compared to DZ co-twins of probands with fatigue. Univariate heritability analyses indicated fatigue has a significant genetic component, with a heritability (h 2) estimate of 40%. Sex-specific effects did not significantly contribute to the heritability of fatigue, with similar estimates for males (h 2 = 41%, 95% CI [18, 62]) and females (h 2 = 40%, 95% CI [27, 52]). These results indicate that fatigue experienced over the past few weeks has a familial contribution, with additive genetic factors playing an important role in its etiology.

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“…This choice is consistent with the definition of the short version of the questionnaire (12 items, SPHERE-12, created for screening in general practice [ 1 ]), composed of two scales: psychological distress and somatic distress. Measuring both fatigue and depression could prove of great interest in psychiatric research, where it is known that they are highly comorbid [ 30 ] and often indicate a greater functional impairment when they co-occur [ 31 ]. Twin research further showed that depression and fatigue were strongly genetically correlated [ 32 , 33 ], with however genetic and environmental factors specific to chronic fatigue [ 32 , 33 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation and psychometric properties of the Somatic and Psychological HEalth REport (SPHERE) in a young Australian-based population sample using non-parametric item response theory

et al. 2017

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BackgroundThe Somatic and Psychological HEalth REport (SPHERE) is a 34-item self-report questionnaire that assesses symptoms of mental distress and persistent fatigue. As it was developed as a screening instrument for use mainly in primary care-based clinical settings, its validity and psychometric properties have not been studied extensively in population-based samples.MethodsWe used non-parametric Item Response Theory to assess scale validity and item properties of the SPHERE-34 scales, collected through four waves of the Brisbane Longitudinal Twin Study (N = 1707, mean age = 12, 51% females; N = 1273, mean age = 14, 50% females; N = 1513, mean age = 16, 54% females, N = 1263, mean age = 18, 56% females). We estimated the heritability of the new scores, their genetic correlation, and their predictive ability in a sub-sample (N = 1993) who completed the Composite International Diagnostic Interview.ResultsAfter excluding items most responsible for noise, sex or wave bias, the SPHERE-34 questionnaire was reduced to 21 items (SPHERE-21), comprising a 14-item scale for anxiety-depression and a 10-item scale for chronic fatigue (3 items overlapping). These new scores showed high internal consistency (alpha > 0.78), moderate three months reliability (ICC = 0.47–0.58) and item scalability (Hi > 0.23), and were positively correlated (phenotypic correlations r = 0.57–0.70; rG = 0.77–1.00). Heritability estimates ranged from 0.27 to 0.51. In addition, both scores were associated with later DSM-IV diagnoses of MDD, social anxiety and alcohol dependence (OR in 1.23–1.47). Finally, a post-hoc comparison showed that several psychometric properties of the SPHERE-21 were similar to those of the Beck Depression Inventory.ConclusionsThe scales of SPHERE-21 measure valid and comparable constructs across sex and age groups (from 9 to 28 years). SPHERE-21 scores are heritable, genetically correlated and show good predictive ability of mental health in an Australian-based population sample of young people.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-017-1420-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Co-occurrence and symptomatology of fatigue and depression

Cited by 132 publications

References 38 publications

A continuum of genetic liability for minor and major depression

A continuum of genetic liability for minor and major depression

Familiality and Heritability of Fatigue in an Australian Twin Sample

Validation and psychometric properties of the Somatic and Psychological HEalth REport (SPHERE) in a young Australian-based population sample using non-parametric item response theory

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