Citation

Tesli N, Jaholkowski P, Haukvik UK, Jangmo A, Haram M, Rokicki J, Friestad C, Tielbeek JJ, Næss, Skardhamar T, Gustavson K, Ask H, Fazel S, Tesli M, Andreassen OA. Psychiatry Res. 2023; 331: e115628.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115628

PMID

38029627

Abstract

Conduct disorder (CD), a common mental disorder in children and adolescents, is characterized by antisocial behavior. Despite similarities with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and possible diagnostic continuity, CD has been shown to precede a range of adult-onset mental disorders. Additionally, little is known about the putative shared genetic liability between CD and adult-onset mental disorders and the underlying gene-environment interplay. Here, we interrogated comorbidity between CD and other mental disorders from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (n = 114 500) and investigated how polygenic risk scores (PRS) for mental health traits were associated with CD/CD traits in childhood and adolescence. Gene-environment interplay patterns for CD was explored with data on bullying and parental education. We found CD to be comorbid with several child and adult-onset mental disorders. This phenotypic overlap corresponded with associations between PRS for mental disorders and CD. Additionally, our findings support an additive gene-environment model. Previously conceptualized as a precursor of ASPD, we found that CD was associated with polygenic risk for several child- and adult-onset mental disorders. High comorbidity of CD with other psychiatric disorders reflected on the genetic level should inform research studies, diagnostic assessments and clinical follow-up of this heterogenous group.

Language: en

Keywords

Bullying; Antisocial behavior; Genetic liability; MoBa; Polygenic scores