Twins Early Development Study (TEDS): A genetically sensitive investigation of mental health outcomes in the mid-twenties

Celestine Lockhart; Joanna Bright; Yasmin Ahmadzadeh; Gerome Breen; Shannon Bristow; Andy Boyd; Johnny Downs; Matthew Hotopf; Elisavet Palaiologou; Kaili Rimfeld; Jessye Maxwell; Margherita Malanchini; Tom A McAdams; Andrew McMillan; Robert Plomin; Thalia C Eley

doi:10.1002/jcv2.12154

Twins Early Development Study (TEDS): A genetically sensitive investigation of mental health outcomes in the mid-twenties

JCPP Adv. 2023 Mar 30;3(2):e12154. doi: 10.1002/jcv2.12154. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Authors

Celestine Lockhart¹, Joanna Bright¹, Yasmin Ahmadzadeh¹, Gerome Breen^{1

2}, Shannon Bristow¹, Andy Boyd³, Johnny Downs^{4

5}, Matthew Hotopf^{5

6}, Elisavet Palaiologou¹, Kaili Rimfeld^{1

7}, Jessye Maxwell¹, Margherita Malanchini^{1

8}, Tom A McAdams^{1

9}, Andrew McMillan¹, Robert Plomin¹, Thalia C Eley^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience King's College London Camberwell London UK.
² UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre South London and Maudsley Hospital London UK.
³ Population Health Sciences Institute Bristol Medical School University of Bristol Bristol UK.
⁴ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience King's College London London UK.
⁵ South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust London UK.
⁶ Department of Psychological Medicine Institute of Psychiatry Psychology and Neuroscience King's College London London UK.
⁷ Department of Psychology Royal Holloway University of London Egham Surrey UK.
⁸ Queen Mary University of London London UK.
⁹ Promenta Research Centre University of Oslo Oslo UK.

Abstract

The Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) is a longitudinal study following a cohort of twins born 1994-1996 in England and Wales. Of the 13,759 families who originally consented to take part, over 10,000 families remain enrolled in the study. The current focus of TEDS is on mental health in the mid-twenties. Making use of over 25 years of genetically sensitive data, TEDS is uniquely placed to explore the longitudinal genetic and environmental influences on common mental health disorders in early adulthood. This paper outlines recent data collection efforts supporting this work, including a cohort-wide mental health assessment at age 26 and a multi-phase Covid-19 study. It will also provide an update on data linkage efforts and the Children of TEDS (CoTEDS) project.

Keywords: TEDS; behavioural genetics; longitudinal studies; mental health; twins.

Abstract

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