Fernandez Pujals et al (2015)

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Created by
Stephanie Pai

Cards (4)

  • Fernandez Pujals et al 2015
    Participants - around 20000 individuals from the Scottish Family Health Study (SFHS), sufficient statistical power.
  • Fernandez-Pujals (2015)
    Results - The unadjusted heritability of MDD among the Scottish Family Health Study (SFHS) was 44%, and once environment was adjusted for it was 28%. The heritability of MDD was higher in females than males but not significantly. This evidence suggests a genetic component in MDD.
  • Fernandez-Pujals (2015) was good because it used a large family based sample and estimated heritability using a pedigree model. It was also ethical because participants were debriefed beforehand. However, the cross-sectional nature of the study doesn't account for genetic differences by age of onset. Can't establish causality between identified risk factors that may have also caused MDD symptoms
  • Participants submitted DNA samples in the form of both saliva and blood to the lab, with which the researchers examined whether there was a relation between genes and MDD.