Erik Pettersson

Erik Pettersson

Principal Researcher | Docent
Visiting address: Nobels väg 12A, 17165 Solna
Postal address: C8 Medicinsk epidemiologi och biostatistik, C8 MEB I Pettersson, 171 77 Stockholm
Part of:

About me

  • I am an associate professor in epidemiology.

    Education:
    BA Psychology, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic
    University (2004)
    MA Psychology, College of William and Mary (2006)
    PhD Psychology, University of Virginia (2012)

    Current research grants (as PI):
    Swedish Research Council
    FORTE

Research

  • I study why individuals who receive one psychiatric diagnosis are more likely to receive all other psychiatric diagnoses (i.e., comorbidity). One hypothesis is that it might be beneficial to measure this comorbidity via a so-called general factor of psychopathology, which would allow for measuring both general as well as specific mental health problems. I also investigate the intergenerational transmission of mental health problems. To address these issues, we apply multivariate behavior genetic and quasi-causal methods to the Swedish population-based health registers and the Swedish Twin Register.

    Current doctoral students:
    Mengping Zhou (supervisor)

    Zhenxin Liao (supervisor)

    Astrid Moell (co-supervisor)

    Selected publications:

    On the psychometric properties and genomic etiology of the general factor of psychopathology
    Pettersson E
    Molecular Psychiatry
    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40813901/

    Psychiatric Diagnoses in Parents and Psychiatric, Behavioral, and Psychosocial Outcomes in Their Offspring: A Swedish Population-Based Register Study
    Zhou M, Lageborn TM, Sjölander A, Larsson H, D'Onofrio B, Landén M, Lichtenstein P, Pettersson E
    American Journal of Psychiatry
    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39086283/

    The general factor of psychopathology: a comparison with the general factor of intelligence with respect to magnitude and predictive validity.
    Pettersson E, Larsson H, D'Onofrio BM, Bölte S, Lichtenstein P
    World Psychiatry 2020 Jun;19(2):206-213
    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32394574/

Teaching

  • 2013-2020 Course director "Introduction to Behavior Genetics" (4, 5HP) at clinical psychology program at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
    2017-2020 Coordinator (considered equal in responsibility to a course director) at Medical degree program at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
    2012 Course director "Personality and Psychopathology" at the University of Virginia

Selected publications

Articles

  • Journal article: PLOS MEDICINE. 2025;22(10):e1004784
    Zhou M; Larsson H; D'Onofrio BM; Landen M; Kuja-Halkola R; Chang Z; Brikell I; Lichtenstein P; Pettersson E
  • Article: PAIN. 2025
    Summit AG; Lin H-C; Wisner KM; Chen C; Pettersson E; Boersma K; D'Onofrio BM; Lichtenstein P; Quinn PD
  • Article: MOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY. 2025;30(9):4023-4028
    Zhou M; Larsson H; D'Onofrio BM; Landen M; Lichtenstein P; Pettersson E
  • Article: JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY. 2024;65(10):1355-1368
    Lageborn CT; Zhou M; Boman M; Sjolander A; Larsson H; D'Onofrio BM; Pettersson E; Lichtenstein P; Landen M
  • Article: MOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY. 2024;29(10):2921-2928
    Liu Y; Lichtenstein P; Kotov R; Larsson H; D'Onofrio BM; Pettersson E
  • Article: JOURNAL OF PAIN. 2024;25(8):104502
    Summit AG; Chen C; Pettersson E; Boersma K; D'Onofrio BM; Lichtenstein P; Quinn PD
  • Article: AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY. 2024;181(7):651-657
    Chen C; Chang Z; Kuja-Halkola R; D'Onofrio BM; Larsson H; Andell P; Lichtenstein P; Pettersson E
  • Journal article: JOURNAL OF PAIN. 2024;25(4):58
    Summit AG; Lin H-C; Pettersson E; Boersma K; D’Onofrio BM; Lichtenstein P; Quinn PD
  • Journal article: EUROPEAN PSYCHIATRY. 2024;67:s221-s222
    Zhou M; Larsson H; D'Onofrio B; Landen M; Lichtenstein P; Pettersson E
  • Journal article: EUROPEAN PSYCHIATRY. 2024;67:s76
    Zhou M; Lageborn CT; Sjolander A; Larsson H; D'Onofrio B; Landen M; Lichtenstein P; Pettersson E
  • Article: JCPP ADVANCES. 2023;3(4):e12187
    Pettersson E
  • Article: JAMA NETWORK OPEN. 2023;6(12):e2348439
    Zhou M; Larsson H; D'Onofrio BM; Landen M; Lichtenstein P; Pettersson E
  • Article: JAMA PSYCHIATRY. 2023;80(7):728-737
    Pettersson E; Larsson H; D'Onofrio BM; Lichtenstein P
  • Article: PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE. 2023;53(4):1510-1517
    Ghirardi L; Kuja-Halkola R; Pettersson E; Sariaslan A; Arseneault L; Fazel S; D'Onofrio BM; Lichtenstein P; Larsson H
  • Article: BMC MEDICINE. 2023;21(1):9
    Chen C; Pettersson E; Summit AG; Boersma K; Chang Z; Kuja-Halkola R; Lichtenstein P; Quinn PD
  • Article: DEVELOPMENT AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY. 2022;34(5):1781-1802
    O'Reilly L; Elam KK; Quinn PD; Adams S; Chirica MG; Klonsky ED; Pettersson E; Lundstrom S; Larsson H; Lichtenstein P; D'Onofrio B
  • Article: JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY. 2022;63(12):1513-1522
    Chen C; Lu Y; Lundstrom S; Larsson H; Lichtenstein P; Pettersson E
  • Article: SUPPORTIVE CARE IN CANCER. 2022;30(11):9461-9469
    Liu Y; Pettersson E; Schandl A; Markar S; Johar A; Lagergren P
  • Article: PLOS ONE. 2022;17(8):e0273116
    Neumann A; Nolte IM; Pappa I; Ahluwalia TS; Pettersson E; Rodriguez A; Whitehouse A; van Beijsterveldt CEM; Benyamin B; Hammerschlag AR; Helmer Q; Karhunen V; Krapohl E; Lu Y; van der Most PJ; Palviainen T; St Pourcain B; Seppaelae I; Suarez A; Vilor-Tejedor N; Tiesler CMT; Wang C; Wills A; Zhou A; Alemany S; Bisgaard H; Bonnelykke K; Davies GE; Hakulinen C; Henders AK; Hyppoenen E; Stokholm J; Bartels M; Hottenga J-J; Heinrich J; Hewitt J; Keltikangas-Jaervinen L; Korhonen T; Kaprio J; Lahti J; Lahti-Pulkkinen M; Lehtimaeki T; Middeldorp CM; Najman JM; Pennell C; Power C; Oldehinkel AJ; Plomin R; Raeikkoenen K; Raitakari OT; Rimfeld K; Sass L; Snieder H; Standl M; Sunyer J; Williams GM; Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ; Boomsma DI; van IJzendoorn MH; Hartman CA; Tiemeier H
  • Article: SUPPORTIVE CARE IN CANCER. 2022;30(2):1315-1322
    Liu Y; Pettersson E; Schandl A; Markar S; Johar A; Lagergren P
  • Show more

All other publications

Grants

  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2024 - 31 December 2026
    Purpose and aims: There is so much comorbidity among psychiatric conditions that one can combine them into a single general psychopathology index. Although general psychopathology predicts adverse outcomes, it remains unknown if it responds to intervention. Therefore, we will estimate the causal effect of psychosocial interventions and psychotropic medications on general psychopathology. Method: We will apply casual inference designs (children-of-siblings design
    co-twin control/within-individual design
    instrumental variable
    and front-door criterion) to data from the Swedish Twin Register and Swedish population registers to estimate the effect of childrearing conditions (year 1), psychotherapy (years 2-3), and psychotropic medication (years 1-5) on general psychopathology (derived from self/parent-reported symptoms and psychiatric diagnoses). The principal investigator will devote 50% of his time to this project, and he is supported by experts in epidemiology, psychotherapy, and psychiatry. Importance: Even though comorbidity is the rule rather than exception in psychiatry, most randomized clinical trials exclude individuals with several disorders. Therefore, there is a lack of knowledge of the effect of treatment on comorbidity. By applying innovative causal inference designs to large observational data, we aim to study the effect of treatment on general psychopathology in the best conceivable way. This could open a new area of research into transdiagnostic treatments.
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 January 2024 - 31 December 2026
    Research problem and specific questions: About one quarter of all children have parents with mental health problems. These children are at increased risk for a wide range of adverse outcomes. Nevertheless, despite the importance of reducing this form of inequality, research on the intergenerational transmission of mental health problems is plagued by three important limitations. These include an overreliance on small samples and retrospective (biased) reports
    a failure to address psychiatric comorbidity
    and inadequate control of unmeasured confounding. The aim of this project is to answer three research questions: 1) What are the associations between psychiatric diagnoses in parents and adverse outcomes in their children? 2) Can these be attributed to broad comorbidity? 3) Does treatment of the parents’ psychiatric disorders reduce the risk of adverse outcomes in children?Data and method: We will include all individuals born in Sweden between 1970 and 2000 (N = 2 797 086). The exposures are 6 psychiatric diagnoses in their parents, and the outcomes are 34 adverse events in the offspring recorded until the end of 2019 (e.g., psychiatric disorders, psychotropic medications, criminality, school and employment problems, etc.). We will estimate associations between the exposures and outcomes
    adjust for comorbidity using multiple regression and a general factor model
    and apply causal inference techniques to control for unmeasured confounding.Plan for project realisation: We will hire a PhD student and a postdoc to complete the project. The PI, along with experts in epidemiology and psychiatry, will provide support.Relevance: Our project will contribute to the study of intergenerational transmission of mental health problems in three important ways. First, because psychiatric treatment resources are becoming increasingly scarce as more individuals seek help, parental psychiatric history can help guide treatment allocation by identifying those at higher risk and by screening out low risk persons. Second, we will highlight the importance of focusing on parental comorbidity, which will guide clinicians to additionally focus on the number of parental diagnoses (rather than only type) when predicting patient prognosis. Third, if a parental psychiatric diagnosis appears causally related to an outcome, then it would be beneficial to develop a policy for child and adolescent mental health providers to recommend that the parent also seek treatment.
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 December 2021 - 30 November 2024
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2018 - 31 December 2021

Employments

  • Principal Researcher, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2022-

Degrees and Education

  • Docent, Karolinska Institutet, 2021

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