Ethical considerations

The study of genetics and psychiatric disorders, or any study for that matter, requires careful consideration of the ethical implications of the research. In particular the complex interplay between genetics and environment and the sparsely understood connections with the brain requires caution. To draw inferences on brain functioning in a clinical setting from genetic factors alone should at this time be discouraged. This is true now especially since the field of population genetics is still predominantly reliant on populations that are overwhelmingly White European. As mentioned in Population genetics, the significant population imbalance makes any application beyond purely basic academic research impossible at this stage.

Useage of the UK Biobank itself comes with its own set of ethical challenges. Both the privacy of the participant and the confidentiality of the data need to be carefully safeguarded. While of course all data is anonymized centrally before distribution to research labs, the ability to identify an individual by their meta-data (e.g., age, general location, answers to general health screenings, etc.) cannot be ruled out¹. Thus it is crucial to have good procedures in place when handling any data that can be considered sensitive. In this work, all data was stored exclusively on the university’s own remote storage facility (TSD). Access to data stored on TSD is regulated, and internet access from the virtual machines connected to this service is restricted.

1.

Rocher L, Hendrickx JM, de Montjoye YA. Estimating the success of re-identifications in incomplete datasets using generative models. Nature Communications [Internet]. 2019 Jul 23;10(1):3069. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10933-3