Mental health disorders including depression, schizophrenia, and anorexia show links to biological markers detected in routine blood tests, according to our new study of genetic, biochemical and psychiatric data from almost a million people.
The research will increase our understanding of what causes mental illness and may help to identify new treatments.
Our study showed there was correlation between the genetics of mental illness and factors in the blood, but this does not tell us whether blood biomarkers are involved in what causes mental illness.
To distinguish correlation from causation in medicine, the gold standard approach is to conduct clinical trials where patients randomly receive a treatment or a placebo. However, these trials are expensive and difficult to conduct.
We did the next best thing: using DNA variants linked to changes in blood biomarkers to act as a natural clinical trial.
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We found evidence some substances measured in blood may actually be involved in the cause of some mental illnesses.
Proteins related to the immune system, for example, may be involved in depression, schizophrenia, and anorexia. Further work is now needed to identify how these blood measures are precisely involved in these disorders, and to find out if they can be targeted for treatment.
