There is very little genetically informative research identifying true environmental risks for psychiatric conditions. These may be best explored in regions with diverse environmental exposures. The current study aimed to explore similarities and differences in such risks contributing to depression and fatigue.
Category: Publication
Susceptibility to depression results from genetic and non-familially shared environmental influences in high-income, Western countries. Environments may play a different role for populations in different contexts.
The Sri Lankan twin registry is one of the first to be established in a developing country, and its design has ensured sampling from a wide range of environmental conditions. It thus has great potential to examine environmental and genetic influences on diverse phenotypes, including psychiatric disorders, in the context of a diversity of environmental exposures, which may not have been fully explored in previous twin studies in developed countries. This paper presents the rationale for the study, describes its context, and the methods for twin ascertainment and data collection.
This presentation will describe the process of setting up a population-based twin study in Sri Lanka, funded by Wellcome Trust, and representing a collaboration between the Sri Lankan Twin Registry and the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London. This study has recruited nearly 2000 twin pairs, and 2000 singletons sampled from an identical sampling frame, and has collected data on common mental disorders, substance misuse, post-traumatic stress disorder and somatic symptoms.
As with any new initiatives, we faced many obstacles. Determination, commitment and team work were our strengths. Acquisition of basic knowledge was vital. This demanded networking with experienced international twin researchers. Collaboration was based on mutual benefits and scientific merit, but not on economically cheap and easy research in the developing world.
Few twin studies have examined large representative samples in nonwestern, developing countries. This is important to address because the relative magnitude of environmental influences on common mental disorders may differ in populations experiencing qualitatively and quantitatively different environmental risk factors to those commonly experienced in more developed countries.
The Sri Lankan Twin Registry began as a volunteer register in 1997. Previously, we have shown door-to-door surveys as the best option to build a population-based twin register of older, adult twins. Our aim was to build a population-based twin register in the Colombo district and use it for twin studies on common mental disorders.
This slim volume marks a very significant milestone for Sri Lanka — first,for the development of the country’shuman research and, second, for the impetus and legitimacy it will provide for developing countries like Sri Lanka to formulate their own research ethics. The book announces to the world that the Sri Lankan Twin Registry (SLTR)This slim volume marks a very significant milestone for Sri Lanka — first, for the development of the country’s human research and, second, for the impetus and legitimacy it will provide for developing countries like Sri Lanka to formulate their own research ethics. The book announces to the world that the Sri Lankan Twin Registry (SLTR) aims to establish a centre of excellence for twin, family and genetic studies. The authors see twin research as uniting diverse disciplines and research methods. The aim is to develop a population-based register as well as a voluntary register if twins.
The National Twin Registry of Sri Lanka was established in 1997 as a volunteer register. To extend it to a population-based register, we examined the effectiveness of tracing older twins by inspecting birth records and recruiting them by postal invitation and in-person contact. Birth records at a divisional secretariat reported from 2 maternity hospitals between the years of 1954–1970 were scrutinised to identify a random sample of twins.
Sri Lanka is an island with genetic diversity between the five main population groups. Our twin registry is the first in the developing world. Initially, we established a volunteer cohort of 4600 twin pairs through a competition advertised in the media