Epigenetic Epidemiology of Psychiatric Disorders

Epigenetic epidemiology is in its relative infancy, and this is no less true for epigenetic studies of psychiatric disorders. Here we attempt to provide a non-exhaustive overview of this field, summarizing the current state of the literature while acknowledging the particular challenges associated with psychiatric epigenetic epidemiology studies. Specifically, we address the challenges associated with causal inference in epigenetic epidemiology, provide specific examples of psychiatric epigenetic epidemiology studies and study designs that have been reported to date, discuss factors that should be considered in designing robust psychiatric epigenetic epidemiology studies, highlight the importance of a life-course perspective, and offer an outlook on future research in this burgeoning field.