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Intrauterine testosterone exposure and depression risk in opposite-sex and same-sex twins, a Danish register study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2021

M. Vinberg Open the ORCID record for M. Vinberg [Opens in a new window] ,
M. K. Wium-Andersen ,
I. K. Wium-Andersen ,
M. B. Jørgensen ,
K. Christensen  and
M. Osler
M. Vinberg*
Affiliation:
Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Psychiatric Centre North Zealand, Hillerød, Denmark Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
M. K. Wium-Andersen
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Center Copenhagen, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark Center for Clinical Research and Prevention, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, Frederiksberg, Denmark
I. K. Wium-Andersen
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Center Copenhagen, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark Center for Clinical Research and Prevention, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, Frederiksberg, Denmark
M. B. Jørgensen
Affiliation:
Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Psychiatric Center Copenhagen, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
K. Christensen
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, The Danish Aging Research Center and The Danish Twin Registry, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
M. Osler
Affiliation:
Center for Clinical Research and Prevention, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, Frederiksberg, Denmark Department of Public Health, Section of Epidemiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
*
Author for correspondence: M. Vinberg, E-mail: maj.vinberg@regionh.dk
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Abstract

Background

Males have a lower prevalence of depression than females and testosterone may be a contributing factor. A comparison of opposite-sex and same-sex twins can be used indirectly to establish the role of prenatal testosterone exposure and the risk of depression. We therefore aimed to explore differences in depression risk using opposite-sex and same-sex twins.

Methods

We included 126 087 opposite-sex and same-sex twins from the Danish Twin Registry followed in nationwide Danish registers. We compared sex-specific incidences of depression diagnosis and prescriptions of antidepressants between opposite-sex and same-sex twins using Cox proportional hazard regression.

Results

During follow-up, 2664 (2.1%) twins were diagnosed with depression and 19 514 (15.5%) twins had purchased at least one prescription of antidepressants. First, in male twins, we found that the opposite-sex male twins had the same risk of depression compared to the same-sex male twins {hazard ratio (HR) = 1.01 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.88–1.17)]}. Revealing the risk of use of antidepressants, the opposite-sex male twins had a slightly higher risk of 4% (HR = 1.04 (95% CI 1.00–1.11)) compared with the same-sex male twins. Second, in the female opposite-sex twins, we revealed a slightly higher, however, not statistically significant risk of depression (HR = 1.08 (95% CI 0.97–1.29)) or purchase of antidepressants (HR = 1.01 (95% CI 0.96–1.05)) when compared to the same-sex female twins.

Conclusions

We found limited support for the hypothesis that prenatal exposure to testosterone was associated with the risk of depression later in life.

Keywords

Depressionopposite-sexsame-sexsex differencestwins
Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 52 , Issue 16 , December 2022 , pp. 3801 - 3806
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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