Paul Lichtenstein

Paul Lichtenstein

Deputy head of department
Telephone: +46852487424
Visiting address: Nobels väg 12a, 17165 Solna
Postal address: C8 Medicinsk epidemiologi och biostatistik, C8 MEB Lichtenstein, 171 77 Stockholm
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About me

  • I am professor in genetic epidemiology and study director for postgraduate studies at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. I am also deputy head of department and member of MEB's Executive Group.

Research

  • The work in my group is primarily concerned with using genetically informative samples (twins, families) to understand genetic and environmental influences on both health and behavior. The studies are usually based on the Swedish Twin Registry (located at the Department and comprising more than 140.000 twins) and other Swedish Registries such as the Multigenerational Register (comprising all individuals born in Sweden since 1931).

    My group performs quantitative genetic studies - that is, evaluate the relative importance of genes and environments for a phenotype - and "cotwin-control"-studies, where the importance of an exposure is evaluated after controlling for genetic predisposition for the disease. The research is interdisciplinary and includes, among others, medical, genetic, epidemiological, sociological and psychological research questions.

    THE DEVELOPMENT OF HEALTH AND BEHAVIOURAL PROBLEMS IN CHILDREN
    One focus of the work in the group is to understand how genes and environments influence the development of health and behavior during childhood and adolescence. We have followed a cohort of 1.500 twin pairs longitudinally since they were 8 years old in 1994 with multiple contacts (1994, 1999, 2002, 2006, 2013) with both the parents and the twins themselves. We have studied how genetic and environmental effects contribute to the development of mental health problems over time. For example, we have found that genetic effects are more stable for ADHD (Chang, Lichtenstein et al. 2014) compared to internalizing problems (e.g., fears, anxiety) (Kendler, Gardner et al. 2008).

    THE CHILD AND ADOLESCENT TWIN STUDY IN SWEDEN (CATSS)
    In CATSS-9, we conduct a psychiatric telephone interview with parents of all 1, 400 twin pairs born in Sweden annually since 1992 in connection with their 9th birthdays. By April 2014 we have performed 13, 500 interviews with a very high response rate (≈80%), and we have collected DNA from the twins. We follow the families with questionnaires to parents and twins at age 15 and 18. The aim is to understand how genes and environment affect different diseases and behavior during childhood and also to get information about various types of exposures. We have shown that the heritability for ASD was around 80% and that ASD had a common genetic etiology with other neuropsychiatric disorders (Lichtenstein, Carlstrom et al. 2010), that extreme values of ASD (Lundström, Chang et al. 2012) and ADHD (Larsson, Anckarsäter et al. 2012) have the same genetic etiology as normal variation in the underlying traits, and an association between fetal growth on ASD suggesting that fetal growth is in the causal pathway (Losh, Esserman et al. 2011).

    CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF CRIMINALITY AND PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS
    To elucidate the mechanisms for the association between early risks and mental health problems as well as intergenerational transmissions of psychiatric problems, we use the large population based registries in Sweden, including, among others, information on all psychiatric care, criminal convictions and suicides in Sweden for all first-degree relatives (>15 million individuals) since 1932. Using different quasi-experimental methods we have shown that smoking during pregnancy is not causally related to offspring criminality (D'Onofrio, Singh et al., 2010), that there is a common genetic etiology between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (Lichtenstein, Yip et al, 2009), and that ADHD medication protects against criminality (Lichtenstein, Halldner et al, 2012).

    THE TWIN REGISTRY
    I was head of the Swedish Twin Registry during 2006-2013. During this time contacts with all twins not previously contacted in the Registry was completed. Now the Swedish Twin Registry contains of 200 000 twins. In addition, all twins in the Registry have had the opportunity to donate DNA for research purposes (n=40, 000).

    RESEARCHERS AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSORS IN MY GROUP
    Agnieszka Butwicka
    Erik Pettersson
    Zheng Chang
    Márta Radó
    Mark Taylor

    CURRENT POST DOCS
    Lotfi Khemiri

Selected publications

  • Article: JAMA PSYCHIATRY. 2016;73(12):1268-1275
    Latvala A; Kuja-Halkola R; Ruck C; D'Onofrio BM; Jernberg T; Almqvist C; Mataix-Cols D; Larsson H; Lichtenstein P
  • Article: MOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY. 2016;21(5):717-721
    Pettersson E; Larsson H; Lichtenstein P
  • Article: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 2016;113(4):1098-1103
    Reichenberg A; Cederlof M; McMillan A; Trzaskowski M; Kapara O; Fruchter E; Ginat K; Davidson M; Weiser M; Larsson H; Plomin R; Lichtenstein P
  • Article: JAMA PSYCHIATRY. 2014;71(4):432-438
    D'Onofrio BM; Rickert ME; Frans E; Kuja-Halkola R; Almqvist C; Sjolander A; Larsson H; Lichtenstein P
  • Article: JAMA PSYCHIATRY. 2014;71(3):326-333
    Fazel S; Wolf A; Pillas D; Lichtenstein P; Langstrom N
  • Article: JAMA PSYCHIATRY. 2014;71(3):319-325
    Chang Z; Lichtenstein P; D'Onofrio BM; Sjolander A; Larsson H
  • Article: LANCET. 2013;382(9905):1646-1654
    Fazel S; Wolf A; Langstrom N; Newton CR; Lichtenstein P
  • Article: JAMA PSYCHIATRY. 2013;70(11):1231-1240
    D'Onofrio BM; Class QA; Rickert ME; Larsson H; Langstrom N; Lichtenstein P
  • Article: NATURE GENETICS. 2013;45(9):984-994
    Lee SH; Ripke S; Neale BM; Faraone SV; Purcell SM; Perlis RH; Mowry BJ; Thapar A; Goddard ME; Witte JS; Absher D; Agartz I; Akil H; Amin F; Andreassen OA; Anjorin A; Anney R; Anttila V; Arking DE; Asherson P; Azevedo MH; Backlund L; Badner JA; Bailey AJ; Banaschewski T; Barchas JD; Barnes MR; Barrett TB; Bass N; Battaglia A; Bauer M; Bayes M; Bellivier F; Bergen SE; Berrettini W; Betancur C; Bettecken T; Biederman J; Binder EB; Black DW; Blackwood DHR; Bloss CS; Boehnke M; Boomsma DI; Breen G; Breuer R; Bruggeman R; Cormican P; Buccola NG; Buitelaar JK; Bunney WE; Buxbaum JD; Byerley WF; Byrne EM; Caesar S; Cahn W; Cantor RM; Casas M; Chakravarti A; Chambert K; Choudhury K; Cichon S; Cloninger CR; Collier DA; Cook EH; Coon H; Cormand B; Corvin A; Coryell WH; Craig DW; Craig IW; Crosbie J; Cuccaro ML; Curtis D; Czamara D; Datta S; Dawson G; Day R; De Geus EJ; Degenhardt F; Djurovic S; Donohoe GJ; Doyle AE; Duan J; Dudbridge F; Duketis E; Ebstein RP; Edenberg HJ; Elia J; Ennis S; Etain B; Fanous A; Farmer AE; Ferrier IN; Flickinger M; Fombonne E; Foroud T; Frank J; Franke B; Fraser C; Freedman R; Freimer NB; Freitag CM; Friedl M; Frisen L; Gallagher L; Gejman PV; Georgieva L; Gershon ES; Geschwind DH; Giegling I; Gill M; Gordon SD; Gordon-Smith K; Green EK; Greenwood TA; Grice DE; Gross M; Grozeva D; Guan W; Gurling H; De Haan L; Haines JL; Hakonarson H; Hallmayer J; Hamilton SP; Hamshere ML; Hansen TF; Hartmann AM; Hautzinger M; Heath AC; Henders AK; Herms S; Hickie IB; Hipolito M; Hoefels S; Holmans PA; Holsboer F; Hoogendijk WJ; Hottenga J-J; Hultman CM; Hus V; Ingason A; Ising M; Jamain S; Jones EG; Jones I; Jones L; Tzeng J-Y; Kaehler AK; Kahn RS; Kandaswamy R; Keller MC; Kennedy JL; Kenny E; Kent L; Kim Y; Kirov GK; Klauck SM; Klei L; Knowles JA; Kohli MA; Koller DL; Konte B; Korszun A; Krabbendam L; Krasucki R; Kuntsi J; Kwan P; Landen M; Langstrom N; Lathrop M; Lawrence J; Lawson WB; Leboyer M; Ledbetter DH; Lee PH; Lencz T; Lesch K-P; Levinson DF; Lewis CM; Li J; Lichtenstein P; Lieberman JA; Lin D-Y; Linszen DH; Liu C; Lohoff FW; Loo SK; Lord C; Lowe JK; Lucae S; MacIntyre DJ; Madden PAF; Maestrini E; Magnusson PKE; Mahon PB; Maier W; Malhotra AK; Mane SM; Martin CL; Martin NG; Mattheisen M; Matthews K; Mattingsdal M; McCarroll SA; McGhee KA; McGough JJ; McGrath PJ; McGuffin P; McInnis MG; McIntosh A; McKinney R; McLean AW; McMahon FJ; McMahon WM; McQuillin A; Medeiros H; Medland SE; Meier S; Melle I; Meng F; Meyer J; Middeldorp CM; Middleton L; Milanova V; Miranda A; Monaco AP; Montgomery GW; Moran JL; Moreno-De-Luca D; Morken G; Morris DW; Morrow EM; Moskvina V; Muglia P; Muehleisen TW; Muir WJ; Mueller-Myhsok B; Murtha M; Myers RM; Myin-Germeys I; Neale MC; Nelson SF; Nievergelt CM; Nikolov I; Nimgaonkar V; Nolen WA; Noethen MM; Nurnberger JI; Nwulia EA; Nyholt DR; O'Dushlaine C; Oades RD; Olincy A; Oliveira G; Olsen L; Ophoff RA; Osby U; Owen MJ; Palotie A; Parr JR; Paterson AD; Pato CN; Pato MT; Penninx BW; Pergadia ML; Pericak-Vance MA; Pickard BS; Pimm J; Piven J; Posthuma D; Potash JB; Poustka F; Propping P; Puri V; Quested DJ; Quinn EM; Antoni Ramos-Quiroga J; Rasmussen HB; Raychaudhuri S; Rehnstroem K; Reif A; Ribases M; Rice JP; Rietschel M; Roeder K; Roeyers H; Rossin L; Rothenberger A; Rouleau G; Ruderfer D; Rujescu D; Sanders AR; Sanders SJ; Santangelo SL; Sergeant JA; Schachar R; Schalling M; Schatzberg AF; Scheftner WA; Schellenberg GD; Scherer SW; Schork NJ; Schulze TG; Schumacher J; Schwarz M; Scolnick E; Scott LJ; Shi J; Shilling PD; Shyn SI; Silverman JM; Slager SL; Smalley SL; Smit JH; Smith EN; Sonuga-Barke EJS; St Clair D; State M; Steffens M; Steinhausen H-C; Strauss JS; Strohmaier J; Stroup TS; Sutcliffe JS; Szatmari P; Szelinger S; Thirumalai S; Thompson RC; Todorov AA; Tozzi F; Treutlein J; Uhr M; van den Oord EJCG; Van Grootheest G; Van Os J; Vicente AM; Vieland VJ; Vincent JB; Visscher PM; Walsh CA; Wassink TH; Watson SJ; Weissman MM; Werge T; Wienker TF; Wijsman EM; Willemsen G; Williams N; Willsey AJ; Witt SH; Xu W; Young AH; Yu TW; Zammit S; Zandi PP; Zhang P; Zitman FG; Zoellner S; Devlin B; Kelsoe JR; Sklar P; Daly MJ; O'Donovan MC; Craddock N; Sullivan PF; Smoller JW; Kendler KS; Wray NR
  • Article: JAMA PSYCHIATRY. 2013;70(7):709-717
    Mataix-Cols D; Boman M; Monzani B; Ruck C; Serlachius E; Langstrom N; Lichtenstein P
  • Article: SCIENCE. 2013;340(6139):1467-1471
    Rietveld CA; Medland SE; Derringer J; Yang J; Esko T; Martin NW; Westra H-J; Shakhbazov K; Abdellaoui A; Agrawal A; Albrecht E; Alizadeh BZ; Amin N; Bamard J; Baumeister SE; Benke KS; Bielak LF; Boatman JA; Boyle PA; Davies G; De Leeuw C; Eklund N; Evans DS; Ferhmann R; Fischer K; Gieger C; Gjessing HK; Haegg S; Harris JR; Hayward C; Holzapfel C; Ibrahim-Verbaas CA; Ingelsson E; Jacobsson B; Joshi PK; Jugessur A; Kaakinen M; Kanoni S; Karjalainen J; Kolcic I; Kristiansson K; Kutalik Z; Lahti J; Lee SH; Lin P; Lind PA; Liu Y; Lohman K; Loitfelder M; McMahon G; Vidal PM; Meirelles O; Milani L; Myhre R; Nuotio M-L; Oldmeadow CJ; Petrovic KE; Peyrot WJ; Polasek O; Quaye L; Reinmaa E; Rice JP; Rizzi TS; Schmidt H; Schmidt R; Smith AV; Smith JA; Tanaka T; Terracciano A; van der Loos MJHM; Vitart V; Voelzke H; Wellmann J; Yu L; Zhao W; Allik J; Attia JR; Bandinelli S; Bastardot F; Beauchamp J; Bennett DA; Berger K; Bierut LJ; Boomsma DI; Bueltmann U; Campbell H; Chabris CF; Cherkas L; Chung MK; Cucca F; de Andrade M; De Jager PL; De Neve J-E; Deary IJ; Dedoussis GV; Deloukas P; Dimitriou M; Eiriksdottir G; Elderson MF; Eriksson JG; Evans DM; Faul JD; Ferrucci L; Garcia ME; Groenberg H; Guonason V; Hall P; Harris JM; Harris TB; Hastie ND; Heath AC; Hernandez DG; Hoffmann W; Hofman A; Holle R; Holliday EG; Hottenga J-J; Iacono WG; Illig T; Jaervelin M-R; Kaehoenen M; Kaprio J; Kirkpatrick RM; Kowgier M; Latvala A; Launer LJ; Lawlor DA; Lehtimaeki T; Li J; Lichtenstein P; Lichtner P; Liewald DC; Madden PA; Magnusson PKE; Maekinen TE; Masala M; McGue M; Metspalu A; Mielck A; Miller MB; Montgomery GW; Mukherjee S; Nyholt DR; Oostra BA; Palmer LJ; Palotie A; Penninx BWJH; Perola M; Peyser PA; Preisig M; Raeikkoenen K; Raitakari OT; Realo A; Ring SM; Ripatti S; Rivadeneira F; Rudan I; Rustichini A; Salomaa V; Sarin A-P; Schlessinger D; Scott RJ; Snieder H; St Pourcain B; Starr JM; Sul JH; Surakka I; Svento R; Teumer A; Tiemeier H; van Rooij FJA; Van Wagoner DR; Vartiainen E; Viikari J; Vollenweider P; Vonk JM; Waeber G; Weir DR; Wichmann H-E; Widen E; Willemsen G; Wilson JF; Wright AF; Conley D; Davey-Smith G; Franke L; Groenen PJF; Hofman A; Johannesson M; Kardia SLR; Krueger RF; Laibson D; Martin NG; Meyer MN; Posthuma D; Thurik AR; Timpson NJ; Uitterlinden AG; van Duijn CM; Visscher PM; Benjamin DJ; Cesarini D; Koellinger PD
  • Article: NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE. 2012;367(21):2006-2014
    Lichtenstein P; Halldner L; Zetterqvist J; Sjolander A; Serlachius E; Fazel S; Langstrom N; Larsson H
  • Article: ARCHIVES OF GENERAL PSYCHIATRY. 2012;69(11):1140-1150
    D'Onofrio BM; Rickert ME; Langstrom N; Donahue KL; Coyne CA; Larsson H; Ellingson JM; Van Hulle CA; Iliadou AN; Rathouz PJ; Lahey BB; Lichtenstein P
  • Article: ARCHIVES OF GENERAL PSYCHIATRY. 2012;69(11):1099-1103
    Sullivan PF; Magnusson C; Reichenberg A; Boman M; Dalman C; Davidson M; Fruchter E; Hultman CM; Lundberg M; Langstrom N; Weiser M; Svensson AC; Lichtenstein P
  • Article: ARCHIVES OF GENERAL PSYCHIATRY. 2012;69(1):46-52
    Lundstrom S; Chang Z; Rastam M; Gillberg C; Larsson H; Anckarsater H; Lichtenstein P
  • Article: MOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY. 2011;16(10):1039-1047
    Ronald A; Larsson H; Anckarsater H; Lichtenstein P
  • Article: NATURE GENETICS. 2011;43(10):969-976
    Ripke S; Sanders AR; Kendler KS; Levinson DF; Sklar P; Holmans PA; Lin D-Y; Duan J; Ophoff RA; Andreassen OA; Scolnick E; Cichon S; Clair DS; Corvin A; Gurling H; Werge T; Rujescu D; Blackwood DHR; Pato CN; Malhotra AK; Purcell S; Dudbridge F; Neale BM; Rossin L; Visscher PM; Posthuma D; Ruderfer DM; Fanous A; Stefansson H; Steinberg S; Mowry BJ; Golimbet V; De Hert M; Jonsson EG; Bitter I; Pietilainen OPH; Collier DA; Tosato S; Agartz I; Albus M; Alexander M; Amdur RL; Amin F; Bass N; Bergen SE; Black DW; Borglum AD; Brown MA; Bruggeman R; Buccola NG; Byerley WF; Cahn W; Cantor RM; Carr VJ; Catts SV; Choudhury K; Cloninger CR; Cormican P; Craddock N; Danoy PA; Datta S; De Haan L; Demontis D; Dikeos D; Djurovic S; Donnelly P; Donohoe G; Duong L; Dwyer S; Fink-Jensen A; Freedman R; Freimer NB; Friedl M; Georgieva L; Giegling I; Gill M; Glenthoj B; Godard S; Hamshere M; Hansen M; Hansen T; Hartmann AM; Henskens FA; Hougaard DM; Hultman CM; Ingason A; Jablensky AV; Jakobsen KD; Jay M; Juergens G; Kahn R; Keller MC; Kenis G; Kenny E; Kim Y; Kirov GK; Konnerth H; Konte B; Krabbendam L; Krasucki R; Lasseter VK; Laurent C; Lawrence J; Lencz T; Lerer FB; Liang K-Y; Lichtenstein P; Lieberman JA; Linszen DH; Lonnqvist J; Loughland CM; Maclean AW; Maher BS; Maier W; Mallet J; Malloy P; Mattheisen M; Mattingsdal M; McGhee KA; McGrath JJ; McIntosh A; McLean DE; McQuillin A; Melle I; Michie PT; Milanova V; Morris DW; Mors O; Mortensen PB; Moskvina V; Muglia P; Myin-Germeys I; Nertney DA; Nestadt G; Nielsen J; Nikolov I; Nordentoft M; Norton N; Noethen MM; O'Dushlaine CT; Olincy A; Olsen L; O'Neill FA; Orntoft TF; Owen MJ; Pantelis C; Papadimitriou G; Pato MT; Peltonen L; Petursson H; Pickard B; Pimm J; Pulver AE; Puri V; Quested D; Quinn EM; Rasmussen HB; Rethelyi JM; Ribble R; Rietschel M; Riley BP; Ruggeri M; Schall U; Schulze TG; Schwab SG; Scott RJ; Shi J; Sigurdsson E; Silverman JM; Spencer CCA; Stefansson K; Strange A; Strengman E; Stroup TS; Suvisaari J; Terenius L; Thirumalai S; Thygesen JH; Timm S; Toncheva D; van den Oord E; van Os J; van Winkel R; Veldink J; Walsh D; Wang AG; Wiersma D; Wildenauer DB; Williams HJ; Williams NM; Wormley B; Zammit S; Sullivan PF; O'Donovan MC; Daly MJ; Gejman PV
  • Article: NATURE GENETICS. 2011;43(10):977-983
    Psychiatric GWAS Consortium Bipolar Disorder Worki
  • Article: AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY. 2010;167(11):1357-1363
    Lichtenstein P; Carlstrom E; Rastam M; Gillberg C; Anckarsater H
  • Article: ARCHIVES OF GENERAL PSYCHIATRY. 2010;67(5):529-538
    D'Onofrio BM; Singh AL; Iliadou A; Lambe M; Hultman CM; Grann M; Neiderhiser JM; Langstrom N; Lichtenstein P
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Articles

All other publications

Grants

Employments

  • Professor, Genetic epidemiology, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2006-

Degrees and Education

  • Docent, Genetic epidemiology, Karolinska Institutet, 1997
  • Dr.Med.Sc., Genetic epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, 1993
  • B.A., Sociology, Stockholm University, 1985

Leadership and responsibility assignments

  • Deputy head of department, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2022-
  • Director of studies, Postgraduate studies, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2019-
  • Head of department, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2014-2017
  • Elected President, Behavior Genetics Association, Behavior Genetics Association, 2012-2014
  • Responsible for a section, The Swedish Twin Registry, Karolinska Institutet, 2006-2013

Distinction and awards

  • James Shields Award For Lifetime Contributions To Twin Research, The International Society for Twin Studies (ISTS), 2011

Supervision

  • Hans Walum, Genetic and hormonal influences on affiliative behavior in humans.
  • Jurgita Narusyte, Adolescent adjustment: the role of heritability and family environment.
  • Catherine Tuvblad, Genetic and environmental influences on antisocial behavior from childhood to emerging adulthood
  • Amir Sariaslan, Exploring the causal nature of neighborhood influences on violent criminality, substance misuse and psychiatric morbidity.
  • Emma Nilsson, Genetic epidemiological studies of adverse pregnancy outcome and the role of schizophrenia
  • Henrik Larsson, Genetic and environmental factors in the development of externalizing symptoms from childhood to adolescence
  • Anastasia Iliadou, Genetic epidemiological approaches to the study of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.
  • Vide Ohlsson Gotby, Register-based studies of sex steroid hormones and psychiatric disorders.
  • Jie Song, Bipolar disorder and lithium treatment: etiologies and consequences
  • Martin Cederlöf, Risks, correlates and consequences of the extended psychosis phenotype.
  • Ralf Kuja-Halkola, Twin and family studies on the development of cognitive and externalizing problems.
  • Linda Lindström, Familial studies on common cancers – a population based approach

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