Javier Costas

The largest meta-analysis to date that studies the risk of children of people with a mental disorder also suffering from some type of mental disorder during their lifetime has been published, with Spanish participation. According to the study, the risk is more than double that of the rest of the population. To explain the study and resolve any doubts that may arise, the Science Media Centre Spain organised an information session with one of the authors, psychiatrist Joaquim Raduà.

An international team, led by the Hospital Clínic-IDIBAPS in Barcelona together with King's College London (UK) and Dalhousie University (Canada), has published the largest meta-analysis to date studying the risk of children of people with mental disorders developing the same, or another type of disorder. The study included more than three million children of parents with different types of disorders and more than 20 million people as a control population. The results, published in the journal World Psychiatry, indicate that, overall, the former have a 1.5 to 3 times higher risk of developing a disorder in their lifetime. According to the authors, in the case of bipolar, depressive or anxiety disorders, the risk of their offspring suffering from some type of disorder is more than 50%.

A genetic association study using data from more than three million people has found nearly 4,000 variants associated with smoking and alcohol consumption. The results are published in the journal Nature.