Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: STEPHANIA RUTH BASILIO SILVA GOMES

Uma banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : STEPHANIA RUTH BASILIO SILVA GOMES
DATE: 02/10/2025
TIME: 14:00
LOCAL: Videoconferência
TITLE:

GENETIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS RELATED TO SLEEP-WAKE PATTERNS, DIET, AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY SHARED IN DEPRESSIVE AND ANXIOUS SYMPTOMATOLOGY: FOCUS ON THE DETERMINANTS OF PHENOTYPIC VARIANCE IN ADULT TWINS

KEY WORDS:

Heritability, Sleep, Mood, Depression, Anxiety, Twins

PAGES: 75
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: Psicologia
SUBÁREA: Psicologia Fisiológica
SPECIALTY: Psicobiologia
SUMMARY:

Abstract
Introduction. Depressive and anxiety disorders are prevalent and can occur concurrently with high frequency. There is evidence of a common genetic basis between depressive and anxiety disorders. However, studies based on a wide range of data related to circadian rhythms and lifestyle behaviors, demonstrating genetic and environmental variation and covariation with depressive and anxiety symptoms, are lacking and need further development to better understand the isolated and simultaneous occurrence of these disorders' symptoms. Objectives: To investigate the shared genetic and environmental factors related to chronotype, sleep quality, chrononutritional profile, and sleep, eating, and physical activity behaviors in determining depressive and anxiety symptoms. To propose a new method, based on machine learning models, to predict the heritability of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and the aforementioned covariates. To assess the potential of the variables of interest in predicting depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and the simultaneous occurrence of both symptoms. Methodology. One hundred and sixty-one twins (79 pairs and 1 trio: 81.37% MZ and 18.63 DZ) were recruited online through social media and through the USP/Brazil Twin Panel. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (MCTQ), the Horne-Ostberg Questionnaire, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Chrononutritional Profile Questionnaire (CQP), and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) were used for subjective assessment. We estimated the narrow-sense heritability (h²) of HADS-Anxiety, HADS-Depression, and other traits, as well as bivariate genetic and environmental correlations, using variance components models via maximum likelihood (SOLAR Eclipse 9.0.0), controlling for age, sex, and their interactions. Preliminary results. Overall, estimates (h²) ranged from 15% to 65%, with higher values for chronotype (with h² of 65% by MCTQ (61% after age adjustment) and 51% by HO (48% age adjusted)) and mood symptoms (HADS-Depression (46%); HADS-Anxiety (43%)), intermediate values for eating habits and some sleep parameters, and lower values for measures of sleep duration and physical activity duration. Genetically, depressive and anxious symptoms shared about 50% of the variance (ρg=0.71), with robust correlations with sleep quality (ρg=0.70–0.80) and, in the case of anxiety, also with social jetlag (ρg=0.58), vigorous physical activity (ρg=-0.61), and nocturnal latency misalignment (-0.46). Conclusion. Symptoms of depression and anxiety share substantial genetic overlap, while some of the observed variance is explained by non-shared environmental factors. Both symptoms share a significant genetic proportion of the total phenotypic variance in sleep quality. Factors such as duration of vigorous physical activity, nocturnal latency misalignment, and social jetlag share a smaller but still significant genetic proportion with anxiety symptoms.

 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - 1216466 - JOHN FONTENELE ARAUJO
Interna - 1718518 - NICOLE LEITE GALVAO COELHO
Externa à Instituição - TANIA KIEHL LUCCI - USP