Towards personalised medicine in psychiatric genetics: the role of cardio-metabolic traits in severe mental illness.

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People with severe mental illness, such as depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder, are at risk of dying up to 15-20 years before the general population. This is largely due to cardio-metabolic disease, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure and obesity. Both severe mental illness and cardio-metabolic disease have a negative impact on our healthcare system, but the combination of the two makes this situation worse. Some medications used to treat severe mental illness lead to weight gain, which is linked to an increased risk of obesity, further complicating the association between severe mental illness and cardio-metabolic traits, and adding to the increased mortality risk. The association between severe mental illness and cardio-metabolic disease is not solely caused by lifestyle choices or medication, it is likely that genetic factors also play a role. Recent studies have shown that both severe mental illness and cardio-metabolic traits are partly influenced by genes, and some studies have also indicated that genes involved in severe mental illness may also be involved in cardio-metabolic disease. In this project, I aim to use statistical techniques on a combination of large genetic datasets and electronic health record data to test the genetic overlap between severe mental illness and cardio-metabolic traits in order to better understand how they are related. I will also create statistical models to test which cardio-metabolic traits best predict clinical outcomes and treatment response in severe mental illness. This will eventually help early detection of those individuals with severe mental illness at high risk for cardio-metabolic disease and could inform the choice of medication or preventive strategies, thereby reducing the burden of cardio-metabolic traits in severe mental illness.