A genome-wide study of 161,460 people measured depressive symptoms by self-report across the general population, not clinical diagnosis — a related but distinct question from the Major Depressive Disorder page this site already has. One variant, near NEGR1, reached genome-wide significance in that analysis.
This catalogue already has a page for Major Depressive Disorder, built from studies of people with a clinical diagnosis compared against controls. This page's variant comes from a different kind of study, and the difference is worth stating rather than glossing over.
Okbay et al. 2016 ran genome-wide association analyses across three related but distinct measures, each in a very large population sample: subjective well-being (298,420 participants), depressive symptoms (161,460 participants), and neuroticism (170,911 participants). The latter two were measured by self-report symptom scales in general-population cohorts — not a clinical diagnosis of depression. The paper reports two genome-wide significant loci specifically for depressive symptoms.
This page's variant, rs782212, sits near NEGR1 and reaches genome-wide significance in the trait record for depressive symptoms (P = 7.0 × 10⁻¹¹).
A self-reported symptom scale measured across the general population and a clinical case-control diagnosis are related but genuinely different constructs in psychiatric genetics — studies of the two do not always find the same loci, and treating them as interchangeable would overstate what either one shows. Keeping this page separate from Major Depressive Disorder is the accurate description of what was actually measured, not a duplication of the same finding under two names.
NEGR1 is better known elsewhere in this catalogue's territory — it is one of the most consistently replicated genes in body-mass-index and obesity genetics. Its specific role in mood is less mechanistically worked out than its metabolic associations; this page reports the statistical finding without claiming more mechanism than the paper establishes.
The 161,460-person analysis behind this variant measured depressive symptoms the way large population studies typically do: a questionnaire, answered by people who were not necessarily seeking or receiving treatment for depression. That is a genuinely useful way to study mood genetics at scale, and it is not the same thing as a clinical diagnosis, which involves a structured assessment against diagnostic criteria.
This page does not diagnose depression and this variant does not predict it. If you are experiencing symptoms of depression, the useful next step is a conversation with a doctor or mental health professional — that conversation does not depend on, and is not improved by, a genotype at this or any single locus.
Major Depressive Disorder — the clinically diagnosed condition — has its own page and its own set of variants, drawn from case-control studies rather than population symptom scores.
What a 23andMe/AncestryDNA export or raw VCF can and can't tell you about Depression (Self-Reported Symptoms) comes down to these specific, well-studied positions — not a diagnosis.
Databases, guidelines and references
No. That page is built from studies comparing people with a clinical diagnosis against controls. This page comes from a self-report symptom scale measured across a large general-population sample — a related but genuinely different kind of study, kept separate because the two do not always find the same loci.
No individual variant works that way. This is one locus from a population study, shifting a self-reported symptom score slightly on average across a very large sample — it says nothing meaningful about an individual's risk.
Less is established here than for its much better-known role in body-mass-index and obesity genetics, where it is one of the most consistently replicated genes. This page reports the statistical association the study found for depressive symptoms without claiming a settled mechanism.
Talk to a doctor or mental health professional. That conversation is the useful next step regardless of genotype, and nothing on this page is a substitute for it.
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