Abstract
Background: Depression and cardiovascular disease risk factors develop in childhood. The objective of this study was to investigate cross sectional and longitudinal associations between blood pressure, mood scores and tagged SNPs within the Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene in the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study. Methods: Data from the five (n=1097), eight (n=1046), ten (n=1026) and fourteen (n=1124) year surveys were used. Blood pressure was measured at all surveys, anxious-depressed scores obtained from the Childhood Behavior Checklist at all surveys and depressive symptom scores from the Beck Depression Inventory for Youth at 14 years. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) tagging the MAOA gene were identified from HapMap Phase II (CEU) data and genotyped. Cross sectional and longitudinal analyses were used to examine the association between blood pressure (outcome) and tagged SNPs within the MAOA gene and anxious/depressed scores (outcome) and tagged SNPs within the MAOA gene. Results: At 14 years, boys with the risk allele of SNP rs5905859 and rs3027396 had higher systolic blood pressure (βrs5905859=2.5; 95% CI: 0.743, 4.337 and βrs3027396=2.5; 95% CI: 0.681, 4.383 respectively) and lower mood scores (βrs5905859=-0.1; 95% CI: -0.100, -0.022 and βrs3027396=-0.2; 95% CI: -0.313,-0.045 respectively). Longitudinally, boys with the risk allele of SNPs rs5905859 (β=0.3; 95% CI: 0.026, 0.540) or rs6609257 (β= 0.3; 95% CI: 0.022, 0.521) had a higher mean systolic blood pressure trajectory compared to boys without. Conclusions: Variation within or close to the MAOA gene may explain in part the association between lower depressive symptom scores and higher systolic blood pressure in Caucasian boys within the Raine cohort.
Highlights
Depression and cardiovascular disease risk factors develop in childhood
This study focused on one facet, namely the hypothesis that a gene is associated with both blood pressure and anxious-depressed mood
After correcting for multiple testing, Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs5905859 within the Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene was associated with systolic blood pressure and depressive symptom score in boys but not girls
Summary
Depression and cardiovascular disease risk factors develop in childhood. The objective of this study was to investigate cross sectional and longitudinal associations between blood pressure, mood scores and tagged SNPs within the Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene in the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study. Higher negative affect scores, including depressive symptoms and anxiety, have been associated with lower systolic blood pressure [3,4]. This association persisted after adjusting for lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise. Examining this relationship in childhood prior to the use of anti depressants and the development of common behaviourial traits, such as smoking and alcohol use, may shed some light on mechanisms underlying this association. This study focused on one facet, namely the hypothesis that a gene is associated with both blood pressure and anxious-depressed mood. The plausibility of this hypothesis is strengthened by heritability estimates of both blood pressure, depression and anxiety related disorders which range from 32%-60% [6,7], 25%-65% [8,9,10,11] and ~48% [12,13] respectively and a study [14] that estimated blood pressure and depression share 20% of their genetic variation
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