Meta-analysis of odds ratios for the COMT Gene rs737865 SNP for schizophrenia

ABSTRACT Meta-analysis of COMT Gene rs737865 SNP odds ratios for schizophrenia Background: The collection of methods that enable combining the findings of several independent studies on the topic of interest with appropriate statistical methods is called meta-analysis. Schizophrenia is a complex psychiatric disease linked to many environmental and genetic factors and affects up to 1% of the world's population. A candidate gene for schizophrenia susceptibility is the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene. This study aimed to combine the odds ratios obtained from different studies according to the rs737865 SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) of the COMT gene for schizophrenia by meta-analysis. Material and Method: Publications written in English were scanned with the keywords "COMT and schizophrenia" in Web of Science, Pubmed, and Google Scholar databases until October 2024. Common odds ratio estimates were obtained with the help of appropriate meta-analytic methods under different genetic models for 17 studies that met the inclusion criteria, as well as 8 and 4 studies for Asians and Caucasians, respectively, by race. STATA 14 program was used for all analyses. Results: Under different genetic models applied to seventeen studies, only carriers of the CC genotype were found to have a higher risk for schizophrenia than carriers of the T (TT+CT) allele [OR=1.133 (95% CI=1.008 - 1.273)]. In subgroup analyses according to race, no risk was found for Asians. In contrast, for Caucasians, it was found that carriers of the C (CC+CT) allele had an increased risk of schizophrenia compared to those with TT genotype [OR=1.586 (95% CI=1.349 - 1.865)]. Conclusion: With the help of applied meta-analytic methods, overall estimates were obtained for odds ratios (OR) obtained from independent studies under different genetic models. However, it is thought that the association between COMT gene rs737865 SNP and schizophrenia should be examined with studies conducted in larger groups homogeneous in terms of ethnicity. Keywords: Meta-analysis, COMT, odds ratio, schizophrenia.