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Article
Open AccessAssessing causal links between age at menarche and adolescent mental health: a Mendelian randomisation study
The timing of puberty may have an important impact on adolescent mental health. In particular, earlier age at menarche has been associated with elevated rates of depression in adolescents. Previous research su...
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Article
Loneliness and depression: bidirectional mendelian randomization analyses using data from three large genome-wide association studies
Major depression (MD) is a serious psychiatric illness afflicting nearly 5% of the world’s population. A large correlational literature suggests that loneliness is a prospective risk factor for MD; correlation...
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Article
Open AccessEducational inequality in multimorbidity: causality and causal pathways. A mendelian randomisation study in UK Biobank
Multimorbidity, typically defined as having two or more long-term health conditions, is associated with reduced wellbeing and life expectancy. Understanding the determinants of multimorbidity, including whethe...
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Article
Open AccessThe absence of association between anorexia nervosa and smoking: converging evidence across two studies
Previous studies have found increased smoking prevalence amongst adults with anorexia nervosa (AN) compared to the general population. The current investigation explored bidirectional associations between AN a...
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Article
Open AccessAssociations between health behaviours, fertility and reproductive outcomes: triangulation of evidence in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa)
Guidance to improve fertility includes reducing alcohol and caffeine consumption, achieving healthy weight-range and stop** smoking. Advice is informed by observational evidence, which is often biased by con...
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Article
Open AccessThe effect of maternal BMI, smoking and alcohol on congenital heart diseases: a Mendelian randomisation study
Congenital heart diseases (CHDs) remain a significant cause of infant morbidity and mortality. Epidemiological studies have explored maternal risk factors for offspring CHDs, but few have used genetic epidemio...
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Article
Open AccessMaternal vitamin D during pregnancy and offspring autism and autism-associated traits: a prospective cohort study
There has been a growing interest in the association between maternal levels of vitamin D during pregnancy and offspring autism. However, whether any associations reflect causal effects is still inconclusive.
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Article
Open AccessMendelian randomisation for psychiatry: how does it work, and what can it tell us?
The successful prevention of mental illness relies upon the identification of causal, modifiable risk factors. However, observational evidence exploring such risk factors often produces contradictory results a...
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Article
Open AccessRisk factors mediating the effect of body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio on cardiovascular outcomes: Mendelian randomization analysis
Higher body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, but the extent to which this is mediated by blood pressure, diabetes, lipid traits, and smoking is not ful...
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Article
Open AccessAssociations of autozygosity with a broad range of human phenotypes
In many species, the offspring of related parents suffer reduced reproductive success, a phenomenon known as inbreeding depression. In humans, the importance of this effect has remained unclear, partly because...
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Article
Open AccessSocial support and mental health in late adolescence are correlated for genetic, as well as environmental, reasons
Late adolescence is a crucial, but underexplored, developmental stage with respect to the aetiology of social support. These individuals are experiencing many major life changes and social support can help the...
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Article
Open AccessGenetic and environmental correlations between subjective wellbeing and experience of life events in adolescence
Some life events appear heritable due to the genetic influence on related behaviours. Shared genetic influence between negative behaviours and negative life events has previously been established. This study i...
