Hopkins Research Shows Chronic Depression Genetically Linked

A study published in the American Journal of Psychology shows that chronic depression is more than twice as likely to occur in people whose close relatives developed chronic depression early in life.

Results of the study...with Johns Hopkins psychiatrist James B. Potash, M.D., as senior author, show that siblings, parents or children of people diagnosed with chronic major depression before the age of 31 have a 2.52-to-1 chance of also having the disorder. Moreover, first-degree relatives of patients diagnosed with chronic major depression before the age of 13 have a 6.17-to-1 chance of having it.

While it has long been known that depression runs in families, researchers hope that the large scale of this study will allow them to examine the prevalence of specific types of depression.

"We have known for a long time that major depression runs in families, but we are still working on determining whether certain subtypes of the illness do so more strongly than others," says Potash. "Our large study allows us the numbers to examine these questions in subgroups."

Read more: Hopkins-Led Study Finds That Chronic Form Of Depression Runs In Families

ABSTRACT: Familial Aggregation of Illness Chronicity in Recurrent, Early-Onset Major Depression Pedigrees