Genetic ‘protection’ against depression was no match for pandemic stress, study of freshmen finds

Experiencing a historic pandemic while managing the stress of the first year of college sent a third of students into a new study on clinical depression. This is double the percentage observed in previous years of the same study.

And while some genetic factors appeared to protect freshmen from depression in pre-pandemic years, even students with these protective factors found themselves developing symptoms during the pandemic years.

In fact, much of the overall increase in depression among college students during the pandemic was among young women with this type of “genetic resilience.”

But the research has a positive side.

By studying the experiences and backgrounds of these students in depth and over time, scientists may have discovered a way to go beyond genetics to predict which students might be more or less vulnerable to depression-related to stress.

The new study, “The impact of COVID-19 on a sample of freshmen reveals genetic and non-genetic forms of stress susceptibility and resilience,” is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by a team from the Michigan Neuroscience Institute at the University of Michigan.

Potential for prediction and prevention

The team used their findings to develop a tool called Affect Score, which combines responses from a range of standard mental health questionnaires. The score could help colleges and universities offer more social and mental health support to those most at risk.

The score could also work in other groups of people, alone or in combination with predicting genetic risk of depression. But more research is needed.

The new findings come from a multi-year longitudinal effort to study the mental health, genetics, personal history, physical activity and sleep of successive groups of freshmen. This began several years before the pandemic and continues today.

“The experiences of these students during such a stressful time can help us understand the factors that contribute to an increased risk of depression and inform future efforts to prevent it,” said lead author Huda Akil, Ph.D. of the new article and former co-director of the institute. “Understanding enough to predict is a key first step toward prevention, early detection and early treatment of depression.”

Lead author Cortney Turner, Ph.D., a research associate at MNI, says: “The possibility of preventing depression is what excites me the most, because the basic variables that appear to play the most important role in Affect score can be modified with training. This could include summer programs before the start of freshman year to help students feel more confident and positive upon arriving on campus.

Exploiting massive data

The team developed the Affect Score using a machine learning tool that was used to comb through all of the students’ responses to thousands of standardized questionnaires and Fitbit data on their activity and sleep.

The data in the article comes from students in three student cohorts, one who completed their first year before the pandemic and two whose first year experience was affected by the pandemic.

At the start of their first year, all completed 14 standard questionnaires and gave in-depth interviews conducted by Virginia Murphy-Weinberg, NP, a highly experienced research nurse. They provided blood and/or saliva samples for analysis in UM’s Advanced Genomics Core.

Samples were obtained on a wide range of biological measures before the pandemic, but this became more limited for both COVID-19 cohorts. Nonetheless, they provided monthly saliva samples to measure stress and other hormones. Each student also received a Fitbit to monitor their daily activity and sleep patterns.

The team also followed up with them repeatedly with some of the same questionnaires during the remainder of their freshman year and during the following summer or academic year to assess symptoms of depression and/or anxiety in each student.

By examining the genetic variations each student carried across hundreds of thousands of genes, the researchers calculated their individual genetic risk score for depression, called MDD-PRS.

Men and women with high MDD-PRS scores were more likely than their classmates to develop depression in first grade before the pandemic. But when the pandemic hit, genetics lost its importance.

Men with lower MDD-PRS scores were still less likely to develop depression during the pandemic, but women with similarly low scores were not. Meanwhile, the overall risk for the group of students with high MDD-PRS scores did not change much compared to pre-pandemic classes.

The pandemic has not only increased the incidence of depression among women, but also its duration or chronicity. Regardless of their genetic profile, women whose first year of college began in 2020 had more than eight times the risk of chronic depression symptoms that persisted throughout that first year and into the summer , compared to those who entered college before the year the pandemic hit, according to the report. study shows.

The study also identified what is called “psychological resilience” in individuals whose genetic profiles might make them more prone to depression, but who have not developed it despite having gone through everything or part of their first year during a pandemic.

“This suggests that when stress becomes strong enough, genetic resilience alone is not enough to alleviate it, especially in women,” Akil said. “But by using machine learning to analyze components of psychological profiles at baseline, our ability to predict who became depressed was truly remarkable.”

She continued: “Genetic and non-genetic data tell us that nothing is predestined and that there are multiple types of resilience. Colleges and universities need to consider strategies to help young people approach their first year with a positive and social mindset. support that can help them overcome stress, whatever its origin.

The team continues to test the Affect Score tool on freshmen entering 2021, 2022 and this fall. They are also preparing to test a validated digital psychiatric intervention tool that they hope will help reduce risk.

The students in the study were all from the University of Michigan, which offers mental health care and mental wellness support through its counseling and psychology services and its University Health Service.

Akil and Turner are members of the UM Eisenberg Family Depression Center, which offers several programs to support the mental health of students, including athletes and veterans. For more than 20 years, the center has sponsored a national conference titled Depression on College Campuses; the next conference will take place in March.

The center also offers a free online depression toolkit to support people with symptoms of depression and those who want to help them.

In addition to Akil, Turner and Murphy-Weinberg, the research team included Huzefa Khalil, Ph.D. and other INM faculty, staff and trainees.