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Sibling aggregation for psychiatric disorders in offspring at high and low risk for depression: 10-year follow-up

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 1999

R. RENDE ,
V. WARNER ,
P. WICKRAMARANTE  and
M. M. WEISSMAN
R. RENDE
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ; Clinical and Genetic Epidemiology, New York Psychiatric Institute and Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, NY, USA
V. WARNER
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ; Clinical and Genetic Epidemiology, New York Psychiatric Institute and Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, NY, USA
P. WICKRAMARANTE
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ; Clinical and Genetic Epidemiology, New York Psychiatric Institute and Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, NY, USA
M. M. WEISSMAN
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ; Clinical and Genetic Epidemiology, New York Psychiatric Institute and Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, NY, USA
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Abstract

Background. A unique way of determining patterns of parent–offspring transmission of risk to affective disorders is to focus on aggregation within sibling pairs. We attempt to extend our previous finding that sibling aggregation is notable for anxiety disorders in a 10-year follow-up of siblings at high and low risk for depression, by virtue of parental diagnosis.

Methods. The sample, which included 173 unique sibling pairs in the high risk cohort, and 83 pairs in the low risk cohort, had been assessed using semi-structured clinical interviews three times over a 10-year period, spanning from childhood to adulthood. Sibling aggregation was quantified using pairwise odds ratios.

Results. Sibling aggregation in the high risk cohort was greater than aggregation in the low risk cohort for anxiety disorders, especially those that emerged in childhood, and later co-morbid disorders, especially major depressive disorder and suicide attempts.

Conclusions. Familial liability to affective disorders may be reflected most strongly by a developmental sequence of anxiety disorders in childhood followed by later depressive and suicidal behaviour in adolescence and adulthood.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 29 , Issue 6 , November 1999 , pp. 1291 - 1298
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

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