Anxiety disorders are usually studied one at a time. A meta-analysis of over 18,000 people pooled several of them together to ask whether a shared genetic signal exists across the category, and found one — the strongest hit in its case-control analysis is the variant on this page.
Anxiety disorders — generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder, phobias, and related conditions — are usually studied one at a time, the way most psychiatric diagnoses are. Otowa et al. 2016 asked a different question: pooled across categories, is there a genetic signal shared by anxiety as a class, rather than specific to any one diagnosis?
The study meta-analysed data from over 18,000 individuals of European ancestry across nine samples, using two complementary analytical strategies: case-control comparisons (diagnosed versus not) and quantitative factor scores (a continuous measure of anxiety symptoms rather than a yes/no diagnosis). Each approach produced its own genome-wide significant hit.
The variant on this page, rs1709393, on chromosome 3q12.3 near LOC152225, was the strongest signal in the case-control analysis. A separate variant in CAMKMT, on chromosome 2p21, was strongest in the quantitative factor-score analysis — different genetics turning up depending on how the same underlying condition was measured, which is itself a finding worth noting rather than a detail to skip past.
The paper frames both results as signals that warrant further investigation, not settled biology, and this page states that plainly rather than overselling a first finding.
Positions joined since this page was written
What this is The text above discusses the variants this page was written around. Since then the catalogue has joined 1 more position to it, by shared trait or shared paper. They are listed here by the paper each came from; the text does not describe them, and each variant page carries that study's own record.
Friligkou E et al. 2024, Nature genetics rs10171148 (LINC01830) — PMID:39294497
2026-02-03 · Genome-wide association study of major anxiety disorders in 122,341 European-ancestry cases identifies 58 loci and highlights GABAergic signaling. Nature Genetics. 2026. DOI:10.1038/s41588-025-02485-8
Largest-ever anxiety disorder GWAS finds 58 risk loci and points squarely at GABAergic signaling
Anxiety disorders (generalized anxiety, panic disorder, phobias) are highly prevalent but had lagged far behind depression and schizophrenia in genetic discovery. This meta-analysis of 122,341 European-ancestry anxiety cases and 729,881 controls identified 58 independent genome-wide significant risk variants and 66 genes with robust biological support -- a large jump for the field. In an independent replication sample of over 1.1 million self-reported cases, 51 of the 58 associations held up. As twin studies had predicted, the study found substantial genetic correlation between anxiety and depression, neuroticism and other internalizing traits, and follow-up analyses showed enrichment across all major brain regions, with GABAergic signaling -- the brain's primary inhibitory neurotransmitter system -- emerging as a central biological theme, consistent with how anti-anxiety medications like benzodiazepines already work pharmacologically. This site's anxiety disorder page currently carries just 1 variant; this study represents a genuine, large-scale expansion of what is known about the condition's genetics.
Anxiety disorders are diagnosed clinically and treated with established, effective options — psychotherapy (particularly cognitive behavioural therapy) and, where appropriate, medication. This variant does not diagnose anxiety, does not predict who will develop it, and does not currently inform treatment choice.
The value of a finding like this is in what it might eventually explain about shared biology across a group of related but distinct conditions — not in anything it tells an individual reader today.
Depression and anxiety frequently co-occur and share some genetic architecture, a pattern seen across psychiatric genetics broadly. This catalogue's depression page covers a separate, specific finding from a different large study.
What a 23andMe/AncestryDNA export or raw VCF can and can't tell you about Anxiety Disorder comes down to these specific, well-studied positions — not a diagnosis.
The studies behind these variants recruited participants from different ancestries — a result found in one population doesn't always transfer to another. Based on 1 of 9 linked studies with a resolved discovery ancestry.
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Anxiety Disorder. MyGeneLog™. https://www.mygenelog.com/conditions/anxiety-disorder
No. It is one signal from a large pooled meta-analysis, shifting risk slightly across a category of related conditions. It is not used diagnostically or predictively anywhere.
Because the underlying study did — it pooled several anxiety disorders together specifically to search for genetics shared across the category, rather than studying one diagnosis in isolation.
Psychotherapy, particularly cognitive behavioural therapy, and medication where appropriate, are the established, effective options — assessed and prescribed by a clinician. Nothing on this page substitutes for that.
They come from different studies, and anxiety and depression are separate diagnoses, though they frequently co-occur and share some genetic architecture — a pattern seen broadly across psychiatric genetics. This page and the depression page report separate, specific findings rather than one shared result.
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