COMT Val158Met (rs4680) polymorphism and vital exhaustion in an open 45–64-year-old population (international epidemiological WHO MONICA and HAPIEE programs)

Objective: to study the association of the polymorphic genotypes of rs4680 in the catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT) gene with vital exhaustion (VE) in a 45–64-year-old population.
Patients and methods. A representative sample of a 45–64-year-old population (781 men and 869 women) was surveyed within screening IV of the international Health, Alcohol and Psychological Factors in Eastern Europe (HAPIEE) program and the WHO MONICA-psychosocial program in 2003-2005. All the study participants filled out a VE scale of the WHO MONICA-psychosocial program. COMT Val158Met (rs4680) polymorphism was genotyped. Pearson' χ² test was used to test the statistical significance of differences between these groups. The statistical significance level was taken to be p≤0.05 in all types of analysis.
Results and discussion. Heterozygous G/A polymorphism in the COMT gene was most common in both the general population (48.6%) and men (44.4%) and women (51.5%). In the general population, the A/A genotype was more common in individuals with a high VE (HVE) level; in women and men, it was detected in 13.3 and 30.8% of cases, respectively. The G/G genotype prevailed in individuals with moderate VE in both the general population (31.1%) and women (29.7%) and men (33.3%).
Conclusion. In the general population, the A/A genotype was found to be more common in individuals with HVE (18.6%), in women (13.3) and in men (30.8%).

1. Montag C, Jurkiewicz M, Reuter M. The role of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene in personality and related psychopathological disorders. CNS Neurol Disord Drug Targets. 2012 May;11(3):236-50.

2. El-Hage W, Clery H, Andersson F, et al. Sexspecific effects of COMT Val158Met polymorphism on corpus callosum structure: A wholebrain diffusion-weighted imaging study. Brain Behav. 2017 Aug 9;7(9):e00786. doi: 10.1002/brb3.786. eCollection 2017 Sep.

3. Zinkstok J, van Nimwegen L, van Amelsvoort T, et al. Catechol-O-methyltransferase gene and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in patients with recent-onset schizophrenia: preliminary results. Psychiatry Res. 2008 Jan 15;157(1-3):1-8. Epub 2007 Sep 12. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2007.02.001

4. Bilder RM, Volavka J, Lachman HM, Grace AA. The catechol-O-methyltransferase polymorphism: relations to the tonic-phasic dopamine hypothesis and neuropsychiatric phenotypes. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2004 Nov; 29(11):1943-61. doi: 10.1038/sj.npp.1300542

5. UCL department of epidemiology and public health Central and Eastern Europe research group HAPIEE Study. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/easteurope/hapiee-cohort.htm

6. MONICA Monograph and Multimedia Sourcebook. Helsinki; 2003.

7. Wang CK, Aleksic A, Xu MS, et al. A TetraPrimer Amplification Refractory System Technique for the Cost-Effective and Novel Genotyping of Eight Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms of the Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Gene. Genet Test Mol Biomarkers. 2016 Aug;20(8):465-70. doi: 10.1089/gtmb.2015.0304. Epub 2016 May 26.

8. Byuyul' A, Tsefel' P. SPSS: iskusstvo obrabotki informatsii. Analiz statisticheskikh dannykh i vosstanovlenie skrytykh zakonomernostei [SPSS: the art of information processing. Analysis of statistical data and recovery of hidden patterns]. Saint-Petersburg: DiaSoftYuP; 2015.

9. Pandis N. The chi-square test. Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop. 2016 Nov;150(5):898-899. doi: 10.1016/j.ajodo.2016.08.009.

10. Appels A. Psychological prodromata of myocardial infarction and sudden death. Psychother Psychosom. 1980;34(2-3):187-95.

11. Rozanski A, Cohen R. From Vitality to Vital Exhaustion and Other States of «Tense Tiredness»: A New Biopsychosocial Risk Domain. Psychosom Med. 2017 Apr;79(3):256-259. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000452.

12. Gafarov VV, Voevoda MI, Gromova EA, et al. Association of the dopamine receptor (DRD4, DAT) gene polymorphisms with vital exhaustion in an open population among 25—64-year-old men (Novosibirsk): Epidemiological study according to the WHO MONICA-psychosocial program. Nevrologiya, neiropsikhiatriya, psikhosomatika = Neurology, Neuropsychiatry, Psychosomatics. 2012;4(1):57-63. (In Russ.) doi: 10.14412/2074-2711-2012-363.

13. Kumar P, Yadav U, Rai V. Prevalence of COMT Val158Met polymorphism in Eastern UP population. Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-le-grand). 2017 Jul 31;63(6):21-24. doi: 10.14715/cmb/2017.63.6.5.

14. Lovallo WR, Enoch MA, Sorocco KH, et al. Joint Impact of Early Life Adversity and COMT Val158Met (rs4680) Genotypes on the Adult Cortisol Response to Psychological Stress. Psychosom Med. 2017 Jul/Aug;79(6):631-637. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000481.

15. Hashimoto R, Noguchi H, Hori H, et al. A possible association between the Val158Met polymorphism of the catechol-O-methyl transferase gene and the personality trait of harm avoidance in Japanese healthy subjects. Neurosci Lett. 2007 Nov 20;428(1):17-20. Epub 2007 Sep 26. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2007.09.036

16. Hosang GM, Fisher HL, Cohen-Woods S, et al. Stressful life events and catechol-Omethyl-transferase (COMT) gene in bipolar disorder. Depress Anxiety. 2017 May;34(5):419-426. doi: 10.1002/da.22606. Epub 2017 Jan 19.

17. Bianchi R, Schonfeld IS, Laurent E. Vital Exhaustion, Burnout, and Other Avatars of Depression. Psychosom Med. 2017 Sep;79(7): 835-836. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000500.

18. Lehto K, Akkermann K, Parik J, et al. Effect of COMT Val158Met polymorphism on personality traits and educational attainment in a longitudinal population representative study. Eur Psychiatry. 2013 Oct;28(8):492-8. doi: 10.1016/j.eurpsy.2013.06.008. Epub 2013 Aug 6.