This is the first study to investigate genetic correlations of suicide attempts with psychiatric disorders and the related intermediate phenotypes, with and without including mental disorders (such as MDD) as covariates. Without adjusting for mental disorders, suicide attempts had significant genetic correlations with risks of ADHD, MDD and anxiety disorders; higher risk tolerance; earlier age at first sexual intercourse, age at first birth and age at menopause; higher parity; and lower childhood IQ, educational attainment, cognitive ability and smoking cessation. After adjusting for mental disorders, suicide attempts had significant genetic correlations with the risk of MDD, earlier age at first sexual intercourse, earlier age at first birth, earlier age at menopause, and lower educational attainment. These findings highlight the importance of considering mental disorders as covariates in the analysis of genetic correlations between suicide attempts and psychiatric and intermediate phenotypes.
Most participants in GWAS of suicide attempts had mental disorders, in terms of cases with suicide attempts (97.8%) and controls without suicide attempts (70.0%).6 The mental disorders consisted of MDD (cases, 71.4%; controls, 33.8%) as well as other disorders, such as AN, SCZ, ASD and ADHD. Therefore, differences in the prevalence of mental disorders (except for MDD) between case‒control groups would affect genetic correlations between suicide attempts and psychiatric disorders and the related intermediate phenotypes. Thus, it is important to consider the effects of differences in prevalence rates of mental disorders (except for MDD) on the genetic correlations and to investigate the shared genetic basis of suicide attempts and psychiatric disorders not mediated by various mental disorders.
We found that suicide attempts shared genetic risk factors with susceptibility to MDD (rg=0.59), even after adjusting for several mental disorders, including MDD. Previous studies have investigated whether genetic correlations between suicide attempts and psychiatric and intermediate phenotypes are mediated by MDD.7,8 Several genetic correlations with psychiatric disorders, such as ADHD, SCZ and BD, were not affected by adjusting for MDD, while other genetic correlations with psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety disorders, PTSD and ASD, were affected by adjusting for MDD.7,8 In this study, we found that most genetic correlations with psychiatric disorders were mediated by mental disorders (Figs. 1 and 3). On the other hand, suicide attempts had a genetic correlation with only MDD after adjusting for mental disorders. These findings suggest that even latent MDD susceptibility, which is not currently diagnosed as a mental disorder, may be genetically associated with an increased risk of suicide attempts; thus, early detection of the potential susceptibility to MDD can help prevent suicide.
Genetic correlations between suicide attempts and intermediate phenotypes were much less affected by adjusting for MDD.7,8 Similar to previous studies adjusting for MDD,7,8 in the present study, genetic correlations between suicide attempts and intermediate phenotypes were not decreased but rather increased by adjusting for mental disorders (Figs. 2 and 3). As neuroticism and smoking behaviors are genetically and epidemiologically associated with several mental disorders,23,36 genetic correlations of neuroticism and smoking behaviors with suicide attempts were moderately influenced by adjusting for mental disorders. In contrast, genetic correlations between suicide attempts and reproductive behaviors, such as age at first sexual intercourse (rg=-0.71), age at first birth (rg=-0.77) and age at menopause (rg=-0.52), and lower educational levels (rg=-0.43) were still significant even after adjusting for mental disorders. There is evidence of associations between suicide attempts and reproductive behaviors.37 Individuals who have attempted suicide are more likely to engage in risk-taking behaviors, including unprotected sexual behavior, early initiation of sexual activity and unintended pregnancy.37 Furthermore, several studies have shown that lower educational attainment is associated with a higher risk of suicide attempts.38 Although these relationships of suicide attempts with reproductive behaviors and educational attainment might be due to a variety of factors, including increased financial stress, lower social support, and potential risks of mental disorders, our findings suggest that these associations could be partially derived from shared genetic factors.
There are some limitations to the interpretations of our findings. Sample sizes were inconsistent among GWASs for psychiatric disorders and intermediate phenotypes. As the statistical power of the LDSC analysis roughly varies with n2, even moderate correlations might not be significantly detectable in smaller samples, such as correlations with PTSD (Supplementary Table 1 and Fig. 1, rg>0.60). Therefore, careful interpretation is needed when comparing genetic correlations among GWASs with different sample sizes. The SE of the genetic correlations (rg) might serve as a reference for comparisons among GWASs with different sample sizes. If the power of further GWASs of suicide attempts is increased, a Mendelian randomization study could investigate potential causal relationships between these risk phenotypes, such as reproductive behaviors and suicide attempts.
In conclusion, we investigated whether genetic correlations of suicide attempts with psychiatric and intermediate phenotypes were mediated by mental disorders. After adjusting for mental disorders, the strength of genetic correlations between suicide attempts and psychiatric disorders were reduced, while those between suicide attempts and intermediate phenotypes were increased. Our findings suggest that susceptibility to MDD, reproductive behaviors, and lower educational levels share a genetic basis with suicide attempts even after adjusting for mental disorders.