The collection of data from this cohort has now been completed and analyses of the data are underway. The NIMH Family Study of Affective Spectrum Disorders will analyze data on mood disorders and patterns of comorbidity from the cohort. This will be facilitated by exchange of a junior scientist from the COLAUS Study, Jennifer Glaus, PhD, who is a Visiting Fellow in our program at the NIMH. Her analyses on mental disorder-CVRF comorbidity have previously found that there is an association between atypical depression, alcohol misuse and CVRF (Glaus et al, 2013). Furthermore, recent findings conclude that inflammatory processes were associated with mood disorder subtypes (Glaus et al, 2014). Public Health Impact: The well-established risk factors of CVD and mental disorders have the greatest public health impact of all chronic non-infectious human diseases. Moreover, a recent World Health Organization projection of future population health concluded that by 2030, unipolar depressive disorders and ischemic heart disease would be among the three leading causes of disease burden worldwide. Given the major public health impact of both CVD/CVRF and mental disorders, the study of the mechanisms underlying their associations is of high clinical and scientific relevance. Future Plans: The next phase of this project continues joint analysis of the NIMH Family Study data on mood disorder subtypes, hyperthymia, comorbid anxiety, sleep disorders and migraine, and analysis of the biomarker and clinical data in the Lausanne site. We will integrate the family study data and common biomarkers from both studies to enhance analytic power and to cross replicate the findings. We will also begin to analyze data from the activity monitors and electronic diaries in the COLAUS Study through our collaboration with experts at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Pennsylvania. Two chief goals continue to be: 1) implementing mobile technologies developed for our studies in the NIMH Intramural Research Program and 2) conducting joint analyzes of NIMH Family Study adults and children. The results will then be used to guide plans for future follow-up and extension of the study samples.
