Genetic Studies of Mood Disorders and Comorbidities

Dear Colleagues,

Individuals with severe mental illness (such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder) carry increased risk of developing many physical diseases, which contributes to the mortality rate being 2–3 times higher in such patients compared to the general public. Cardiometabolic diseases (such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease) are particularly prevalent, with reductions in life expectancy of up to 25 years due to cardiovascular diseases. Traditionally, the increased disease risk has been attributed to the increased burden of risk factors, such as sedentary lifestyle, smoking, substance abuse and socioeconomic factors. Genetic studies have begun to challenge this assumption, with recent studies suggesting common biological mechanisms underlying physical and psychiatric illness.

In this Special Issue, we aim to highlight some of the ways in which genetics and genomics can be used to investigate the relationship between physical and psychiatric illness as well as to provide an update on some recent findings in this area.

Dr. Rona Strawbridge
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Genes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.