Overview

• The Nature Communications study, led by QIMR Berghofer, analyzed DNA from about 130,471 women and 64,805 men with major depression alongside similarly large control groups.
• Researchers identified roughly 7,000 genetic markers shared across sexes plus about 6,000 additional markers linked in females, indicating a substantially higher measured burden in women.
• Genetic correlations between depression and metabolic traits such as body mass index and metabolic syndrome were stronger in females.
• Symptom patterns differed by sex in accompanying analyses, with females more often showing weight gain, daytime sleepiness and increased appetite, and males more often showing anger, risk-taking and substance use.
• Authors released summary results publicly and noted key limitations, including European-ancestry focus and unequal sex sampling, calling for replication in more diverse and balanced cohorts and for integration of environmental factors.