Approved Research

Comorbidity and covariation of indicators for disorders impacting behaviour and mental health

Lay summary

Public mental health is a growing cause for concern. In public discourse "Mental Health" often refers to some combination of chronic anxiety or depression. However, biomedical research makes finer distinctions into separate disorders and conditions. Being specific in this way helps researchers to uncover the causes of specific conditions, and helps clinicians to develop appropriate treatments.

However, it is becoming increasingly clear that many of these conditions are comorbid - that is, they tend to occur together. For example, a person who is diagnosed with an anxiety disorder is also more likely to be diagnosed with major depression. Similar patterns of comorbidity are observed with many common disorders of mental health or behaviour including autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, schizophrenia, substance abuse, eating disorders, and developmental communication disorders, among others.

These high rates of comorbidity are a source of difficulty for researchers trying to uncover the mechanisms of these disorders. Considering patients with multiple diagnoses can lead the causes of one disorder to be confused with another, while excluding patients with multiple diagnoses ignores an important component of the mental health landscape and one where research attention is acutely needed. Moreover, either of these approaches make it difficult to discover why these conditions are comorbid in the first place.

This project proposes to replicate previous findings about the causes of mental health and behavioural disorders about which members of the research team have individual expertise, and assess the degree to which patterns of comorbidity can be attributed to shared genetic, neurological, or environmental factors.