Altered metabolism may be a cause or consequence of mental illness, with a high comorbidity observed between mood and metabolic disorders. There is growing interest in interventions that target shared biological mechanisms of these conditions to improve clinical and functional outcomes for patients. However, more research is required to understand the relationship between metabolism and mental health, specifically sex differences and interindividual variability, in order to develop effective treatment strategies. Towards this end, this project aims to explore the contribution of biological (including reproductive & circadian factors), lifestyle, and environmental risk factors to associations between metabolism and mental health.
Objectives:
1.Compare differences in baseline metabolite levels between males and females.
2.Compare differences in baseline metabolite levels between subgroups of the female population stratified by menstrual cycle phase, period regularity, contraceptive use, hormone replacement therapy use, and menopausal status.
3.Examine the relationship between baseline metabolite levels and mental health outcomes including psychiatric diagnoses and individual mental health symptoms.
4.Explore how various risk factors associate with metabolic and mental health outcomes individually, and whether they serve as moderators/mediators of any observed associations between metabolism and mental health. The risk factors of interest include: reproductive factors, circadian factors (e.g sleep duration/quality, chronotype, daily/seasonal variations in metabolite levels), socioeconomic status, education, polygenic risk scores for psychiatric illness, age, and exercise.
This research will provide insight into the aetiology of metabolic and psychiatric morbidities, including patient-specific mechanisms. This may generate hypotheses for improving health outcomes in a patient-sensitive manner.