Robyn Wootton

Currently, my research focus has three core areas:

1) Longitudinal modelling of mental illness over the life-course: applying novel modelling techniques to better understand how mental health develops with age.
2) Leveraging genetic data to better understand the development of mental illness: using Mendelian randomisation to identify risk factors for mental illness and comparing transmitted and non-transmitted genetic variants to understand the intergenerational transmission of mental illness from parents to children.
3) Identifying predictors of mental illness progression: combining longitudinal modelling of mental illness with genetic causal inference techniques to find robust predictors of favourable outcomes for those with mental illness.

I have worked with data from international cohorts including ALSPAC (UK), TEDS (UK), E-Risk (UK), MoBa (Norway), Dunedin (New Zealand) and Pelotas (Brazil).

I am skilled in several epidemiology methodologies including twin modelling, GWAS, polygenic score analysis, genetic correlations, Mendelian randomisation, genetic nurture analysis and repeated measures multi-level modelling.

I am a research fellow in the Psychiatric Genetic Epidemiology group at Nic Waals Institute, contributing to the PsychGen research group at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (led by Alexandra Havdahl). I am supported by grants from Helse Sør-Øst (Recover - 2020024; CHARM - 2022039).

Understanding the aetiology of childhood self-harm in the general population: An epidemiological approach (CHARM)

Exploring the progression of mental illness: Identifying predictors of recovery (RECOVER)

Wootton, R. E.*, Havdahl, A.*, Leppert, B., Riglin, L., Ask, H., Tesli, M., Bugge Askeland, R., Hannigan, L. J., Corfield, E., Øyen, A., Andreassen, O. A., Tilling, K., Davey Smith, G., Thapar, A., Reichborn-Kjennerud, T., & Stergiakouli (2022). Parental genetic liability to ADHD, autism and schizophrenia is associated with prenatal exposures in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort study (MoBa). JAMA Psychiatry. 79(8), 799-810. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.1728

Wootton, R. E., Riglin, L., Blakey, R., Agnew-Blais, J., Caye, A., Cadman, T., Havdahl, A., Gonçalves, H., Menezes, A. M. B., Wehrmeister, F. C., Rimfeld, K., Davey Smith, G., Eley, T. C., Augusto Rohde, L., Arseneault, L., Moffitt, T. E., Stergiakouli, E., Thapar A., & Tilling, K. (2022). ADHD traits decline over the life-course in the general population: Trajectories across five population birth cohorts spanning ages 3 to 45 years. IJE. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyac049

Wootton, R. E., Jones, H. J., & Sallis, H. M. (2021). Mendelian randomisation for psychiatry: How does it work, and what can it tell us? Molecular Psychiatry. 27, 53–57. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-021-01173-3

Firth, J., Solmi, M., Wootton, R. E., Vancampfort, D., Schuch, F. B., … Sarris, J., Rosenbaum, S., Carvalho, A. F., & Stubbs, B. (2020). A meta-review of "lifestyle psychiatry": the role of exercise, smoking, diet and sleep in the prevention and treatment of mental disorders. World Psychiatry, 19(3), 360-380. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20773

Harrison, R., Munafò, M. R., Davey Smith, G., & Wootton, R. E. (2020). Examining the effect of smoking on suicidal ideation and attempts: A triangulation of epidemiological approaches. British Journal of Psychiatry, 217(6), 701-707. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2020.68     

Wootton, R. E., Richmond, R. C., Stuijfzand, B. G., Lawn, R. B., Sallis, H. M., Taylor, G. M. J., Jones, H. J., Zammit, S., Davey Smith, G., Munafò, M. R. (2019). Evidence for causal effects of lifetime smoking on risk for depression and schizophrenia: A Mendelian randomisation study. Psychological Medicine, 50(14), 2435 – 2443. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291719002678

Wootton, R. E., Lawn, R. B., Millard, L. A. C., Davies, N. M., Taylor, A. E., Munafo, M. R., Timpson, N. J., Davis, O. S. P., Davey Smith, G., & Haworth, C. M. A. (2018). Testing the causal effects between subjective wellbeing and physical health using Mendelian randomisation. BMJ, 362, k3788. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k3788

View all our publications