Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment (Feb 2023)

Environmental Factors in the Etiology of Mental Disorders in the Czech Republic

  • Hosak L,
  • Hosakova K,
  • Malekirad M,
  • Kamaradova Koncelikova D,
  • Zapletalova J,
  • Latalova K

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 19
pp. 349 – 359

Abstract

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Ladislav Hosak,1 Kristyna Hosakova,1 Mohammad Malekirad,1 Dana Kamaradova Koncelikova,2 Jana Zapletalova,3 Klara Latalova2 1Department of Psychiatry, Charles University, School of Medicine in Hradec Kralove and University Hospital, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic; 2Department of Psychiatry, Palacky University Olomouc, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry and University Hospital, Olomouc, Czech Republic; 3Department of Medical Biophysics, Palacky University Olomouc, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Olomouc, Czech RepublicCorrespondence: Ladislav Hosak, Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Sokolska 581, Hradec Kralove, 500 05, Czech Republic, Tel +420 495 833 478, Fax +420 495 833 041, Email [email protected]: Both genetic and environmental factors are important in etiology of mental disorders. Calculating polyenviromic risk/protective scores provides an updated perspective in research on the environmental causes of psychiatric disorders. We aimed to compare environmental risk and protective factors in patients with psychosis or a mood disorder (PSYCH+MOOD) and those with an anxiety disorder (ANX).Methods: We administered the internationally accepted questionnaire from the EUropean Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) study, enriched with mood and anxiety disorder-relevant measures, to patients at two large university hospitals in the Czech Republic.Results: Ninety-four PSYCH+MOOD patients (average age 42.5 years; 46 males) and 52 ANX patients (average age 47.2 years; 17 males) participated. Neither polyenviromic risk score nor polyenviromic protective score differed significantly between PSYCH+MOOD and ANX groups (p = 0.149; p = 0.466, respectively).Conclusion: Scientific validity of the polyenviromic risk/protective score construct must still be demonstrated in large psychiatric samples, ideally in prospective studies. Nevertheless, researchers have already started to investigate environmental factors in the etiology of mental disorders in their complexity, similarly to polygenic risk scores.Keywords: anxiety disorders, environmental factors, mood disorders, schizophrenia, stress

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