Overview

• An international meta-analysis led by QIMR Berghofer examined DNA from 130,471 women and 64,805 men with major depression, alongside 159,521 female and 132,185 male controls.
• Researchers identified roughly 13,000 depression-associated genetic markers in females compared with about 7,000 in males.
• Genetic overlap between depression and metabolic traits such as body mass index and metabolic syndrome was stronger in females.
• Authors noted limits including a focus on European ancestry and more female cases than male cases, and they performed checks to address sample-size imbalance.
• The team has made summary results publicly available and says the work could inform sex-aware research and potential treatments, while emphasizing that genetic risk is not deterministic.