基因研究显示，患有严重抑郁症可导致多达20种无关疾病

Having genes that put you at risk of depression could also make you susceptible to a variety of other health conditions, often seemingly unconnected. According to new research, this could include things like coronary heart disease and even bacterial infections.

根据最新研究，拥有让你有抑郁风险的基因也会让你容易受到其他各种健康状况的影响，这些疾病往往看起来没有任何关系，可能包括冠状动脉心脏病甚至细菌感染。

The new study assessed the genetic risk factors of major depressive disorder in relation with more than 900 other diseases; the research team found that having poor mental health isn't always a consequence of serious illness – it can be directly responsible for it.

这项新的研究评估了与900多种其他疾病相关的严重抑郁障碍的遗传危险因素;研究小组发现，精神健康状况不佳并不一定是严重疾病的后果——而是直接原因。

"Data shows that people living with serious mental diseases, like depression, have much higher rates of physical illness than those in the general population," says genetic epidemiologist Anwar Mulugeta from the University of South Australia.

来自南澳大利亚大学的遗传流行病学家安瓦尔·穆卢盖塔说：“数据显示，患有抑郁症等严重精神疾病的人，其身体疾病的发病率远远高于普通人群。”

Suffering from severe depression while dealing with another major illness is maybe not all that surprising, but researchers have long wondered whether the root causes of depression might be somehow more directly responsible.

在处理另一种重大疾病时患上严重的抑郁症也许并不那么令人惊讶，但研究人员长期以来一直想知道抑郁症的根源是否更直接。

Previous research has indicated that depression isn't just a disease of the mind, but can have a debilitating influence over the entire body.

此前的研究表明，抑郁症不仅是一种精神疾病，还会对整个身体产生削弱作用。

So Mulugeta and his team used what's known as a Mendelian randomisationapproach to a pool of genomic data taken from UK Biobank records on nearly 340,000 individuals to work out which comes first.

因此，Mulugeta和他的团队使用孟德尔随机法，从英国生物银行近340000个个体的记录中提取了一组基因组数据，以确定哪一个先出现。

While many similar studies have already established links between depression and individual diseases, this kind of approach applies various controls suited to establishing a more causal relationship.

虽然许多类似的研究已经建立了抑郁症与个别疾病之间的联系，但这种方法应用了各种适合建立更具因果关系的控制措施。

It turns out that having a high genetic risk score for major depressive disorder also makes it more likely a patient will have been admitted to hospital with – or even died from – at least one of 20 different diseases.

结果发现，患有严重抑郁症的高遗传风险分数也使患者更有可能因至少20种不同疾病中的一种而入院，甚至死亡。

In the context of the analysis, these genes predisposed the individuals to a serious illness affecting just about every system in the body. These include such diverse conditions as asthma, high cholesterol, gastroenteritis, oesophagitis, urinary system disorders, and even infections from E.coli.

在分析的背景下，这些基因使个体容易患上一种严重的疾病，几乎影响到身体的每一个系统。这些疾病包括哮喘、高胆固醇、胃肠炎、食道炎、泌尿系统疾病，甚至大肠杆菌感染。

The study also highlighted potential sensitivities and adverse reactions to some drugs, suggesting a strong need to monitor prescriptions for individuals with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder.

这项研究还强调了对某些药物的潜在敏感性和不良反应，表明有必要对诊断为重度抑郁症的患者的处方进行监控。

"This research puts the 'chicken and egg' conundrum to rest, showing that depression causes disease, rather than only the other way around," says Mulugeta.

穆鲁盖塔说：“这项研究让‘鸡和蛋’的难题得以解决，表明抑郁症导致疾病，而不是反过来。”

"Importantly, this research signals that an individual diagnosed with depression should now also be screened for a defined set of possible comorbidities, enabling much better clinical management and significantly improved outcomes."

“重要的是，这项研究表明，现在应该对被诊断为抑郁症的个体进行筛查，以确定可能的共病，从而实现更好的临床管理和显著改善的结果。”

Exactly how genes for depression might lay the groundwork for developing a range of other diseases isn't clear. Given the number of gastrointestinal illnesses on that list, the researchers speculate that medications used to treat mental illness could be having an adverse effect on our guts.

抑郁症基因究竟如何为其他一系列疾病的发生奠定基础尚不清楚。考虑到名单上胃肠道疾病的数量，研究人员推测用于治疗精神疾病的药物可能会对我们的肠胃产生不良影响。
This isn't out of line with previous studies pointing at similar conclusions, but further research should help nail down the mechanisms behind the relationship.

这与之前的研究结果并不矛盾，但进一步的研究应该有助于确定这种关系背后的机制。

"Understanding the connections between depression and other diseases is critical to ensure people with depression receive the support they require. The more we can look at the individual patient, the better their outcomes are likely to be," says genetic epidemiologist Elina Hypp?nen from the Australian Centre for Precision Health.

“了解抑郁症与其他疾病之间的联系，对于确保抑郁症患者获得所需的支持至关重要。澳大利亚精确健康中心的基因流行病学家埃莉娜·海普宁说：“我们越能观察到患者个体，他们的结果就可能越好。”

"Our results suggest that it is important to look beyond the obvious, and that we need to screen and effectively manage depression-related comorbidities if we want to minimise the longer-term negative implications on health."

“我们的研究结果表明，要想最大限度地减少对健康的长期负面影响，就必须超越显而易见的范围，对抑郁症相关的合并症进行筛选和有效管理。”

With more than 300 million people all over the globe experiencing depression, it ranks among one of the most common illnesses of our time.

随着全球3亿多人经历抑郁症，抑郁症列为我们这个时代最常见的疾病之一。

It's clear that finding better ways to treat and prevent the effects of depression without putting us at risk of other conditions is becoming more important than ever.

很明显，找到更好的方法来治疗和预防抑郁症的影响，而不是让我们面临感染其他疾病的风险，变得比以往任何时候都重要。

This research was published in Molecular Psychiatry.

这项研究发表在《分子精神病学》上。