Groundbreaking international study reveals striking genetic differences in sexual relationships between women and men experience depressionAnd it may help explain why women are diagnosed with the disease at nearly twice the rate of men.
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The study, published in Nature Communications and led by scientists at Australia’s QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, found that: genetic factors It plays a major role in women’s risk of depression. Researchers found that women have almost twice as many genetic “flags” associated with depression than men.
“We already know that women are twice as likely to suffer from depression during their lifetime than men,” said Dr. Brittany Mitchell, senior research fellow in the Institute of Genetic Epidemiology at QIMR Berghofer.
“We also know that depression can look very different from person to person. Until now, there hasn’t been much consistent research explaining why depression affects women and men differently, including the possible role of genetics.”
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The research team analyzed genetic data from hundreds of thousands of people, including about 130,000 women and 65,000 men, who had been diagnosed with depression. They identified about 7,000 DNA changes associated with depression in both men and women, and an additional 6,000 genetic variations specific to women, for a total of about 13,000 changes.
“For me, the finding that women potentially have more genetic flags for depression than men…was surprising,” Mitchell told FOX News Digital.
“I expected that the same genetic flags would influence depression in both men and women. … So the finding that this was not the case and that women had almost twice as many genetic flags as men was an interesting finding.”
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The study also showed that depression-related genes in women overlap more strongly with genes associated with metabolic traits, which may help explain why women with depression often experience symptoms such as weight changes and changes in energy levels.
The changes in DNA that scientists have identified are genetic differences that people are born with, not changes that occur due to life experiences.
Traditionally, most drug trials and treatments have been tested on men, but researchers hope their work will lead to a clinical understanding of depression in women.
Mitchell said the key point is that differences in genetics, and therefore biology, contribute to the differences seen in depression between men and women.
“Our study demonstrated the importance and value of considering sex in health research,” she added. “I hope this sets an example.” Other research to obey. ”
Although the study focused on participants of European descent, the researchers hope to expand the study to a more diverse population.
“It will be very important that future studies also include a variety of other populations to determine whether our findings apply to other populations,” Mitchell said.
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