University of Edinburgh

3

Daniel Smith

OFHS240114

This study aims to find out how common mood disorders are within the Our Future Health (OFH) Cohort. We will also assess whether people with a history of mood disorders are more likely to have physical health problems. Finally, we will investigate how lifestyle factors and genetics contribute to both mood disorders and physical health problems. The over-arching goal of this study is to generate new hypotheses on the mechanisms that drive associations between mood disorders and physical health problems. We will: a) identify the prevalence of mood disorders in the OFH cohort; b) describe patterns of comorbidity between mood disorders and physical health conditions (such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease); and c) conduct an assessment of how lifestyle factors (such as activity levels, sleep, smoking and alcohol use) and genetic factors (defined by family history and polygenic risk scores) influence the risk of different patterns of mental/physical health comorbidity. These analyses will then be used to generate new hypotheses on the mechanisms that may drive comorbidity between mood disorders and physical ill-health. There are several areas where this research will address knowledge gaps. The large Our Future Health cohort will allow us to obtain a clear picture of how common different types of mood disorder are within the UK general population. We will also be able to assess how certain aspects of lifestyle (eg, smoking, alcohol use, exercise and sleep) are associated with different types of mood disorder (such as depression, anxiety disorders and bipolar disorder). Similarly, we will identify patterns of physical health problems in people with mood disorders. By doing this, we will generate theories about how mental and physical health problems might be related to each other.

Mood disorders are common and for many individuals they are associated poor quality of life and reduced life span. Increasingly, mood disorders are considered 'whole body' phenomena (affecting both physical and mental wellbeing). As such, the data within Our Future Health has the potential to improve our understanding of which factors (both generic and non-genetic) contribute most to different patterns of adverse physical health outcomes in people with depression, anxiety disorders or bipolar disorder. The added value and benefit for the public will be a better understanding of how lifestyle, environmental and genetic factors influence patterns of comorbidity between mood disorders and physical health problems. In the future, this may inform the design of new treatment approaches, for example, to prevent obesity or diabetes in people with a personal or family history of depression, anxiety disorder or bipolar disorder.

Public Health Research

28/08/2024

22/08/2024

TRE