Back to search

BEDREHELSE-Bedre helse og livskvalitet

A Trans-Nordic Study of Mood disorders (NOR-FREED)

Alternative title: En nordisk studie av stemningslidelser (Nor-Freed)

Awarded: NOK 7.0 mill.

Mood disorders such as depressive disorder are a common type of mental disorder with a high degree of heritability, i.e. patients inherit a vulnerability from their parents. In the current project, we wanted to identify patient groups with high risk of developing a severe outcome of depressive disorder, which might prove important in preventive terms in a longer perspective. Firstly, we will utilize advanced statistical models to distinguish patient groups with high risk for severe outcomes in major depressive disorder at a clinical level. Secondly, we will validate these clinical features with molecular genetic markers in large, genotyped cohorts. Lastly, we will apply these clinical and genotypic markers to predict severe outcome in patients with major depressive disorder in the Nordics and other comparable countries. So far, we have provided an overview of epidemiological and familial aspects of major depressive disorder in the Nordics and are currently performing molecular genetic analyses of a subgroup of patients with early age at onset of major depressive disorder. At the Norwegian site, we are writing scientific papers on e.g., mortality and life years lost in severe depression and the genetiv underpinnings of a severe clinical course of depression. The current project is taking advantage of registry data and biobank material. For large scale data analysis, we have built the “TRYGGVE” infrastructure collaboration across Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, funded by the Nordic Council. Using TRYGGVE, we can analyze Nordic register and genomic data in a unified scheme.

The past decade has delivered exceptional progress in identifying the genetic basis of schizophrenia, autism, and intellectual disability. Therefore, we focus this ambitious and novel application on mood disorders that have a marked impact on the individuals affected and society, focusing on major depression (MD), and we wish to develop individualized predictive models of poor outcome. We formed a team of outstanding scientists with many prior successful and productive collaborations. We use national-scale Nordic resources to propose work impossible elsewhere, but which are also generalizable to US healthcare systems. Our work is efficient with considerable added value. We will conduct this work in a network of deeply integrated studies across the US, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Our history of international collaboration is extensive and includes leadership roles in the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC). The long-term strategy of the proposed project, is to develop proven strategies to predict clinically-relevant outcomes for Mood disorders. The key deliverables are tools to meaningfully predict poor outcomes for individuals with Mood disorders. To achieve these deliverables, we will increase both prior probability and clinical utility by focusing on two key points: define outcome trajectories, validate applying genetics, and prediction of poor outcome at first clinical presentation. Success is defined by development of clinically useful predictive models that robustly replicate in independent samples.

Publications from Cristin

No publications found

No publications found

No publications found

No publications found

Funding scheme:

BEDREHELSE-Bedre helse og livskvalitet