Familial association between allergic disorders and depression in adult Finnish twins

Clinical studies have shown a relationship between allergic disorders and d epression, panic disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and so cial anxiety for a significant subset of patients with these disorders. The nature of the relationship, whether due to shared environmental or biologi c vulnerabilities or as a result of the stress of chronic illness, has been less clear. By examining the covariance of atopic disorders and depressive symptoms in a community sample of monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twin s, the contribution of genetic and/or shared environmental etiological fact ors can be established. A Finnish sample of 1337 MZ and 2506 DZ twin pairs, ages 33-60 years, was sent questionnaires inquiring about history of asthm a, eczema, and atopic rhinitis, as well as the Beck Depression Inventory (B DI), The nature of the covariation between twins of these symptoms was inve stigated by fitting competing genetic and environmental models. Within-pers on correlation between atopic symptoms and BDI was 0.103 (P < 0.001) for th e total sample. Using the Mx statistical modeling program to fit the data t o competing quantitative genetic models, the best fitting model estimated t hat 64%, of the association between atopy and BDI was due to shared familia l vulnerability, primarily additive genetic influences. Although the measur es for allergic disorders and depression are crude, this study supports the hypothesis that there is a small shared genetic risk for atopic and depres sive symptoms, and if replicated, may open research for common mechanisms b etween allergic and depressive disorders. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.