Scientists Uncover Genetic Predisposition to Anxiety in a study with more than 1.2 million participants from around the world

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"... investigated the genetic profiles of more than 1 million participants enrolled in multiple cohorts around the world. Leveraging this large dataset, they uncovered more than 100 genes associated with anxiety. ...

They also observed that some anxiety-associated genes can also predispose to other mental illnesses, including depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. ...

In line with anxiety comorbidity with physical health, the study also demonstrated that anxiety genetic risk is also correlated with non-psychiatric conditions. In particular, the strongest evidence was observed with gastrointestinal disorders and pain-related outcomes. ..."

From the abstract:

"We leveraged information from more than 1.2 million participants, including 97,383 cases, to investigate the genetics of anxiety disorders across five continental groups. Through ancestry-specific and cross-ancestry genome-wide association studies, we identified 51 anxiety-associated loci, 39 of which were novel. In addition, polygenic risk scores derived from individuals of European descent were associated with anxiety in African, admixed American and East Asian groups. The heritability of anxiety was enriched for genes expressed in the limbic system, cerebral cortex, cerebellum, metencephalon, entorhinal cortex and brain stem. Transcriptome-wide and proteome-wide analyses highlighted 115 genes associated with anxiety through brain-specific and cross-tissue regulation. Anxiety also showed global and local genetic correlations with depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and widespread pleiotropy with several physical health domains. Overall, this study expands our knowledge regarding the genetic risk and pathogenesis of anxiety disorders, highlighting the importance of investigating diverse populations and integrating multi-omics information."

Yale Scientists Uncover Genetic Predisposition to Anxiety < Psychiatry

Gene discovery and biological insights into anxiety disorders from a large-scale multi-ancestry genome-wide association study (no public access)

Gene Discovery and Biological Insights into Anxiety Disorders from a Multi-Ancestry Genome-wide Association Study of >1.2 Million Participants (preprint, open access) Courtesy of personal communication  with the senior author Renato Polimanti.