Different psychiatric disorders share a large number of susceptibility genes, while in non-psychiatric neurological diseases, genetics is much more specific.

The new research collects data on millions of common genetic variants in more than half a million people, among patients and healthy volunteers, which could be risk factors in 25 neurological and psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia, autism, bipolar disorder, major depression, ADHD, migraine, Alzheimer’s, etc). For the first time, the research outlines the shared genetic basis between psychiatric disorders and non-psychiatric neurological pathologies (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, migraine, etc.), and extends the focus of interest to personality traits that are not considered clinical disorders (emotional instability, etc.). .) and cognitive parameters (school performance, for example).

 The study confirms a strong genetic correlation between schizophrenia, autism, bipolar disorder, major depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, in parallel it also reveals that there is no significant overlap between the genetic risk factors of psychiatric disorders and other neurological pathologies.

For years, the classification of psychiatric pathologies has not always been based on the real causes of each disease because of the great ignorance about the etiology of these disorders. Knowing the specific genes that are involved in a pathology is an advance to improve the classification (nosology), diagnosis and therapeutic strategies against the disease.

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