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Association of Existing and New Candidate Genes for Anxiety, Depression and Personality Traits in Older People

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Abstract

Genetic variants that have previously been associated with personality traits and/or psychological distress, or inflammatory marker levels were investigated for their relationship to self-rated personality traits, anxiety, and depression in two elderly Scottish cohorts. Ten genes (29 SNPs) were investigated in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (~70 years, N = 1,091). Four of these genes and seven others (35 SNPs) were tested in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921 who were measured on the same traits and states on two occasions (~80 years, N = 550; 87 years, N = 229). For previously investigated candidate genes, some support (at a nominal significance level of 0.05/0.01) was found for association between NOS1 and personality traits (especially extraversion), PSEN1 and depression/neuroticism, and GRIK3 and depression. Of the inflammatory marker candidate genes, TF showed some association with psychological distress. No SNPs withstood the correction to significance level for multiple testing. Nevertheless, the results will be of importance to future meta-analyses of these candidate genes in relation to psychological distress and personality.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the LBC1921 and LBC1936 participants. We thank the LBC1936 study Secretary Paula Davies. We thank Michelle Taylor, Janie Corley, Caroline Brett, Alison Pattie, Martha Whiteman and Caroline Cameron for data collection and data entry. We thank the staff at Lothian Health Board, and the staff at the SCRE Centre, University of Glasgow; and Jenny Huffman for performing some of the genotyping. The LBC1921 data described here were collected in waves funded by the BBSRC and the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Executive. The LBC1936 was supported by a programme grant (to IJD and JMS) from Research into Ageing, which continues with funding from Help the Aged as The Disconnected Mind. The work was undertaken by The University of Edinburgh Centre for Cognitive Aging and Cognitive Epidemiology, part of the cross council Lifelong Health and Wellbeing Initiative. Funding (to IJD and JMS) from the BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC and MRC is gratefully acknowledged. ML is a Royal Society of Edinburgh/Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland Personal Research Fellow.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, Scotland, UK

    Michelle Luciano, Lorna M. Houlihan, Sarah E. Harris, Alan J. Gow, John M. Starr & Ian J. Deary

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

    Michelle Luciano, Lorna M. Houlihan, Alan J. Gow & Ian J. Deary

  3. Medical Genetics Section, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Sarah E. Harris

  4. Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, MRC Human Genetics Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, UK

    Caroline Hayward

  5. Department of Geriatric Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Royal Victoria Hospital, Edinburgh, UK

    John M. Starr

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  1. Michelle Luciano
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Correspondence to Michelle Luciano.

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Luciano, M., Houlihan, L.M., Harris, S.E. et al. Association of Existing and New Candidate Genes for Anxiety, Depression and Personality Traits in Older People. Behav Genet 40, 518–532 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-009-9326-4

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