Genetic Polymorphisms and Generalized Anxiety Disorder: a systematic review

• Main Authors: Verônica de Medeiros Alves, Edilson Leite de Moura, Larissa Tenório Andrade Correia, Antonio E. Nardi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Mavera, Edições Científicas e Técnicas Ltda
• Series: Medical Express
• Subjects: polymorphisms; generalized anxiety disorder; gene
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2358-04292017000100001&lng=en&tlng=en

OBJECTIVE: Generalized Anxiety Disorder is a disease characterized by feelings of anxiety, fear, excessive worrying and tension in the face of life experiences. This study aims to identify genetic polymorphisms associated with Generalized Anxiety Disorder described in scientific literature. METHOD: This review was set up by searching PubMed/Medline, Web of Science and Scopus database using the following key words: "gene and generalized anxiety disorder", "SNP and generalized anxiety disorder" and "polymorphism and generalized anxiety disorder". RESULTS: We found ten polymorphic varieties of nine genes that showed association and seven polymorphic varieties of three genes that showed no association with Generalized Anxiety disorder: genes NPY, BDNF, BLC2, DED2, RGS2, HTR1A, MAOA, ERS2 and 5-HTT showed association, whereas BDNF, ERS1 and TPH showed no association with the Disorder. Conflicting results regarding BDNF come from different studies. CONCLUSION: This review identified a variety of genetic polymorphisms, that have been studied in relation to Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Taken jointly, their results are inconclusive, showing that more genetic studies focused on this mental disorder are necessary.