Genetics and Comorbidity
Diseases often go hand in hand, DNA research shows why
Many people have not one, but several health problems at the same time. This is called comorbidity, and it has a major impact on how we understand diseases and what treatment patients with different comorbidities need.
Common comorbidities are combinations of different psychiatric conditions, of different heart conditions, or of psychiatric and heart conditions together. There are many possible reasons why these comorbidities occur.
In our study, we looked at the role of genetics: certain genetic factors can increase the risk of multiple diseases and their comorbidities.
For my PhD research, we used large genetic datasets from millions of people worldwide to investigate shared genetic risk within and between psychiatric and cardiovascular diseases. The aim was to find biological processes that influence multiple diseases, and on which intervention may be possible to treat patients with specific comorbidities.
More information on the thesis to follow.