Work Description

Date: 30 August, 2023

Dataset Title: The Impact of COVID-19 on a College Freshman Sample Reveals Genetic and Nongenetic Forms of Susceptibility and Resilience to Stress

Dataset Creators: Turner, Cortney; Khalil, Huzefa; Murphy-Weinberg, Virginia; Hagenauer, Megan; Gates, Linda; Tang, Yu; Weinberg, Lauren; Grysko, Robert; Floran-Garduno, Leonor; Dokas, Thomas; Samaniego, Catherine; Zhao, Zhuo; Fang, Yu; Sen, Srijan; Lopez, Juan; Watson Jr., Stanley; Akil, Huda

Dataset Contact: Cortney Turner caturner@med.umich.edu

Research Overview:
Using a longitudinal approach, we sought to define the interplay between genetic and non-genetic factors in shaping vulnerability or resilience to COVID-19 pandemic stress, as indexed by the emergence of symptoms of depression and/or anxiety. University of Michigan freshmen were characterized at baseline using multiple psychological instruments. Subjects were genotyped and a polygenic risk score for depression (MDD-PRS) was calculated. Daily physical activity and sleep were captured. Subjects were sampled at multiple time points throughout the freshman year on clinical rating scales, including GAD-7 and PHQ-9 for anxiety and depression, respectively. Two cohorts (2019-2021) were compared to a pre-COVID-19 cohort to assess the impact of the pandemic. Across cohorts, 26%-40% of freshmen developed symptoms of anxiety or depression (N=331). Depression symptoms significantly increased in the pandemic years and became more chronic especially in females. Physical activity was reduced and sleep was increased by the pandemic, and this correlated with the emergence of mood symptoms. While Low MDD-PRS predicted lower risk for depression during a typical freshman year, this genetic advantage vanished during the pandemic. Indeed, females with lower genetic risk accounted for the majority of the pandemic-induced rise in depression. We developed a model that explained approximately half of the variance in follow-up depression scores based on psychological trait and state characteristics at baseline and contributed to resilience in genetically vulnerable subjects. We discuss the concept of multiple types of resilience, and the interplay between genetic, sex and psychological factors in shaping the affective response to different types of stressors.

Methodology:
Freshmen from the University of Michigan were enrolled in these studies from 2015-2021. Fitbit data was collected throughout the freshmen year and analyses were conducted on the sleep and activity measures. More methods are described in the paper mentioned in this submission.

Software:
PLINK v1.90b6.16
R v4.2.3

Files:

Activity Data:
activitySleep.csv - Contains daily Fitbit step and sleep data for each subject. Data dictionary included.

Related publication(s):
Turner, CA. Khalil, H. et al. (2023). Stress, Genetics and Mood: Impact of COVID-19 on a College Freshman Sample. Forthcoming.

Use and Access:
This data set is made available under the Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

To Cite Data:
Turner, C., Khalil, H., Murphy-Weinberg, V., Hagenauer, M., Gates, L., Tang, Y., Weinberg, L., Grysko, R., Floran-Garduno, L., Dokas, T., Samaniego, C., Zhao, Z., Fang, Y., Sen, S., Lopez, J., Watson Jr., S., Akil, H. (2023). The Impact of COVID-19 on a College Freshman Sample Reveals Genetic and Nongenetic Forms of Susceptibility and Resilience to Stress [Data set], University of Michigan - Deep Blue Data. https://doi.org/10.7302/70qm-x208

Curation Note:
On Oct. 10, 2023, title of deposit was changed from "Stress, Genetics and Mood: Impact of COVID-19 on a College Freshman Sample" to match changes to paper after journal review.