Parental psychopathology and childhood atopic disorders in the community.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the association of parental psychopathology and childhood atopic disorders in the general population.


METHODS
In a sample of 9,240 parent-child dyads drawn from the 1999 US National Health Interview Survey, the association of childhood atopic disorders with parental major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic attacks was examined. Parental DSM-IV psychiatric diagnoses were ascertained by the Composite International Diagnostic Interview, Short-Form (CIDI-SF).


RESULTS
Parental major depression and panic attacks were associated with childhood atopic disorders only in biological parent-child dyads (adjusted odds ratios = 1.67 for major depression and 1.46 for panic attacks), and among these more strongly in mother-child dyads. Parental atopic disorders and parental psychopathology had an additive effect on the risk of atopic disorders in the offspring.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings from this study lend support to the "shared genetic liability" hypothesis for the association of childhood atopic disorders and parental major depression and panic attacks.
Mojtabai
Ramin
R
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA. rm322@columbia.edu
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications*; D005220:Fathers; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics*; D040582:Inheritance Patterns / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000150:complications; D014481:United States