Genetics and Comorbidity

The thesis looks at why people often have several illnesses at once, known as comorbidity, and at the part genetics plays. It covers common combinations among psychiatric conditions, among heart conditions, and between psychiatric and heart conditions. Genetic factors can raise the risk of several diseases and of their co-occurrence.

The research used large genetic datasets from millions of people around the world to study genetic risk shared within and between psychiatric and cardiovascular diseases. It aimed to identify biological processes that affect multiple diseases and that might be targeted to treat patients with particular comorbidities.