Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32231276›Full record

ArticleNature genetics2020

Minimal phenotyping yields genome-wide association signals of low specificity for major depression.

Na Cai, Joana A Revez, Mark J Adams, Till F M Andlauer, Gerome Breen, Enda M Byrne, Toni-Kim Clarke, Andreas J Forstner, Hans J Grabe, Steven P Hamilton and 23 more

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature genetics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 215 papers, 13 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
215citing papers in PubMed, 13 pooled it
38.9field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

215 citing papers in PubMed, 13 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 366 citations in OpenAlex.

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  12. Genetics of age-at-onset in major depression.Translational psychiatry · 2022
    Pooled it
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  14. Article
  15. Big data research: the importance of the data-generating process and domain expertise.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2026
    Article
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  20. Context-specific genetic effects inform endotypes and treatment in asthma.The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology · 2026
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155 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

33 authors at 20 institutions in 9 countries.

Na CaiWellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK. na.cai@helmholtz-muenchen.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7496-2075
Joana A RevezInstitute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Mark J AdamsDivision of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3599-6018
Till F M AndlauerDepartment of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2917-5889
Gerome BreenNIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, King's College London, London, UK.
Enda M ByrneInstitute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9491-7797
Toni-Kim ClarkeDivision of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Andreas J ForstnerDepartment of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Hans J GrabeDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3684-4208
Steven P HamiltonDepartment of Psychiatry, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Douglas F LevinsonDepartment of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Cathryn M LewisSocial, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, King's College London, London, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8249-8476
Glyn LewisDivision of Psychiatry, University College London, London, UK.
Nicholas G MartinGenetics and Computational Biology, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4069-8020
Yuri MilaneschiDepartment of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit and GGZinGeest, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Ole MorsPsychosis Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital, Risskov, Denmark.
Bertram Müller-MyhsokDepartment of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.
Brenda W J H PenninxDepartment of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit and GGZinGeest, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Roy H PerlisDepartment of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5862-6757
Giorgio PistisDepartment of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
James B PotashDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5802-8079
Martin PreisigDepartment of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Jianxin ShiDivision of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Jordan W SmollerDepartment of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0381-6334
Fabien StreitDepartment of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1080-4339
Henning TiemeierDepartment of Epidemiology, Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Rudolf UherDepartment of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Sandra Van der AuweraDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Alexander ViktorinDepartment of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Myrna M WeissmanDepartment of Psychiatry, Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA.
MDD Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium
Kenneth S KendlerVirginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
Jonathan FlintCenter for Neurobehavioral Genetics, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
GGZ inGeest · NLHarvard University · USKing's College London · GBThe University of Queensland · AUUniversitätsmedizin Greifswald · DEUniversity of Edinburgh · GBUniversity of Lausanne · CHAarhus University Hospital · DKBroad Institute · USDalhousie University · CAEuropean Bioinformatics Institute · GBHeidelberg University · DEJohns Hopkins University · USKaiser Permanente · USKarolinska Institutet · SENational Cancer Institute · USNew York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute · USQIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute · AUStanford University · USTUM Klinikum · DE

Funding

1/7 PGC: Advancing Discovery and ImpactR01MH124871 · NIMH · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI BULIK, CYNTHIA M, SULLIVAN, PATRICK F · 2021 to 2025
$3.5M
7/7 Psychiatric Genomics Consortium: Finding actionable variationU01MH109532 · NIMH · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · PI AGRAWAL, ARPANA, EDENBERG, HOWARD J · 2016 to 2020
$3.1M
1/7 Psychiatric Genomics Consortium: Finding actionable variationU01MH109528 · NIMH · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI SULLIVAN, PATRICK F · 2016 to 2020
$2.5M
Department of HealthNIMH NIH HHS R01 MH124871NIMH NIH HHS U01 MH109528NIMH NIH HHS U01 MH109532Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Minimal phenotyping refers to the reliance on the use of a small number of self-reported items for disease case identification, increasingly used in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Here we report differences in genetic architecture between depression defined by minimal phenotyping and strictly defined major depressive disorder (MDD): the former has a lower genotype-derived heritability that cannot be explained by inclusion of milder cases and a higher proportion of the genome contributing to this shared genetic liability with other conditions than for strictly defined MDD. GWAS based on minimal phenotyping definitions preferentially identifies loci that are not specific to MDD, and, although it generates highly predictive polygenic risk scores, the predictive power can be explained entirely by large sample sizes rather than by specificity for MDD. Our results show that reliance on results from minimal phenotyping may bias views of the genetic architecture of MDD and impede the ability to identify pathways specific to MDD.

Indexed as

AdultAgedBipolar DisorderFemaleGenetic Predisposition to DiseaseGenome-Wide Association StudyGenotypeHumansMajor Depressive DisorderMaleMiddle AgedMultifactorial InheritancePhenotypePolymorphism, Single NucleotideRisk FactorsSensitivity and Specificity

Identifiers

PMID32231276
PMCPMC7906795
OpenAlexW3013660197

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.