Table 1.

Description of 5-HTTLPR, Stress and Depression Studies Included in the Overall Meta-analysis

Study	No. of Participants	% Female	Mean Age	Study Design	Stressor	Depression Measure	Reported Findings*	Averaged one-tailed p value**	Fisher’s p after study exclusion
Mossner et al, 2001	72	46	NA	Exposed only	Parkinson’s Disease	Hamilton Depression Rating Scale	Positive	0.0125	1.90E-05
Caspi et al, 2003	845	48	26	Longitudinal	Child Maltreatment	Diagnosis of Depression	Positive	0.0100	4.20E-05
Eley et al, 2004	374	58	16	Case-Control	Adverse Family Environment	MFQ	Partially positive	0.2575	1.95E-05
Grabe et al, 2004	973	69	52	Cross- sectional	Number of Chronic Diseases	von Zerssen’s Complaints Scale	Partially positive	0.2503	2.16E-05
Kendler et al, 2005	549	NA	35	Longitudinal	Stressful Life Events	Diagnosis of Depression	Positive	0.0070	3.27E-05
Nakatani et al, 2005	2509	25	64	Exposed only	Acute Myocardial Infarction	Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale	Positive	0.0075	1.62E-04
Jacobs et al, 2006	374	100	27	Longitudinal	Stressful Life Events	SCL-90	Positive	0.0200	2.51E-05
Kaufman et al, 2006	196	51	9	Cross- sectional	Child Abuse	MFQ	Partially positive	0.0225	2.12E-05
Ramasubbu et al, 2006	51	35	60	Exposed only	Stroke	Diagnosis of Depression	Positive	0.0130	1.86E-05
Sjoberg et al, 2006	198	63	17	Cross- sectional	Psychosocial Circumstances in Family	Depression Self-Rating Scale	Partially positive/ opposite	0.4721	1.76E-05
Surtees et al, 2006	4175	47	60	Cross- sectional	Childhood Adversities/Stressful Life Events	Diagnosis of Depression	Negative	0.5000	1.33E-06
Taylor et al, 2006	110	57	21	Cross- sectional	Childhood Adversities	BDI	Partially positive	0.0268	1.95E-05
Wilhelm et al, 2006	127	67	48	Longitudinal	Stressful Life Events	Diagnosis of Depression	Partially positive	0.1178	1.89E-05
Zalsman et al, 2006	79	68	38	Case-control	Stressful Life Events	Hamilton Depression Rating Scale	Partially positive	0.2233	1.81E-05
Cervilla et al, 2007	737	72	49	Case-control	Stressful Life Events	Diagnosis of Depression	Positive	0.0143	3.62E-05
Chipman et al, 2007	2094	52	23	Cross-sectional	Stressful Life Events	Goldman Depression Scale	Negative	0.3400	1.60E-05
Chorbov et al, 2007	236	100	22	Longitudinal	Traumatic Events	Diagnosis of Depression	Opposite	1.0000	1.10E-05
Cicchetti et al, 2007	339	46	17	Cross- sectional	Child Abuse	ASEBA	Partially positive	0.2518	1.94E-05
Dick et al, 2007	956	NA	NA	Family-based association study	Problems with work, relationship or health	Diagnosis of Depression	Positive	0.0040	5.37E-05
Kilpatrick et al, 2007	589	64	≥ 60 (77%)	Cross- sectional	Hurricane exposure + low social support 6 months before hurricane	Diagnosis of Depression	Positive	0.0015	3.94E-05
Kim et al, 2007	732	NA	≥65	Cross- sectional	Stressful Life Events	Diagnosis of Depression	Negative	0.0385	3.11E-05
Kraus et al, 2007	139	49	42	Exposed only	Interferon-α Treatment	Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale	Negative	0.5650	1.73E-05
Mandelli et al, 2007	670	68	48	Case-only	Stressful Life Events	Diagnosis of Depression	Positive	0.0112	3.50E-05
Middeldorp et al, 2007	367	68	39	Longitudinal	Stressful Life Events	Anxiety-Depression Rating Scale	Negative	0.5000	1.73E-05
Otte et al, 2007	557	15	68	Exposed only	Coronary Disease	Diagnosis of Depression	Partially positive	0.0275	2.86E-05
Scheid et al, 2007	568	100	20–34	Cross- sectional	Stressful Life Events	CES-D	Negative	0.0800	2.50E-05
Brummett et al, 2008	288	75	58	Cross- sectional	Caregiving to patients with Altzheimer’s disease/dementia	CES-D	Positive	0.0015	2.64E-05
Kohen et al, 2008	150	37	60	Exposed only	Stroke	Geriatric Depression Scale	Positive	0.0225	2.03E-05
Lazary et al, 2008	567	79	31	Cross- sectional	Stressful Life Events	Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale	Positive	0.0025	3.67E-05
Lenze et al, 2008	23	87	77	Exposed only	Hip Fracture	Diagnosis of Depression	Positive	0.0068	1.81E-05
Power et al, 2008	1421	NA	≥65	Cross- sectional	Stressful Life Events	MINI, CES-D	Negative	0.6200	1.10E-05
Wichers et al, 2008	394	100	18–64	Cross- sectional	Childhood Trauma	SCL-90; SCID Depressive Symptoms	Negative	0.2000	2.03E-05
Aguilera et al, 2009	534	55	23	Cross- sectional	Childhood Trauma	SCL-90-R	Positive	0.0001	4.63E-05
Araya et al, 2009	4334	NA	7	Longitudinal	Stressful Life Events	SDQ Emotional Symptom 5- item Subscale	Negative	0.5000	1.03E-06
Aslund et al, 2009	1482	48	17–18	Cross- sectional	Quarrels or violence between parents; Physical or Psychological Matreatment	Depression Self-Rating Scale	Positive	0.0078	7.68E-05
Bull et al, 2009	98	36	46	Longitudinal	Interferon-α and Ribavirin Treatment	Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale/BDI	Positive	0.0150	1.95E-05
Coventry at al, 2009	3243	60	32	Longitudinal	Stressful Life Events	Diagnosis of Depression	Negative	0.5000	4.33E-06
Drachmann Bukh et al, 2009	290	66	39	Case-only	Stressful Life Events	Diagnosis of Depression	Negative	0.0350	2.25E-05
Kim et al, 2009	521	55	72	Longitudinal	Number of Chronic Health Problems	Diagnosis of Depression	Positive	0.0050	3.27E-05
Laucht et al, 2009	309	54	19	Cross- sectional	Stressful Life Events	Diagnosis of Depression, BDI	Partially negative/ opposite	0.7375	1.57E-05
Lotrich et al, 2009	71	27	48	Exposed only	Interferon-α Treatment	BDI	Positive	0.0250	1.88E-05
McCaffery et al, 2009	977	21	59	Exposed only	Established Cardiovascular Disease	BDI	Negative	0.5000	1.57E-05
Ressler et al, 2009	926	62	≥ 18	Cross- sectional	Childhood Trauma	Diagnosis of Depression (partially), BDI	Partially positive	0.5000	1.59E-05
Ritchie et al, 2009	942	58	65–92	Cross- sectional	Childhood Adversities	Diagnosis of Depression, CES-D, Treatment with Antidepressants	Partially opposite	0.5390	1.51E-05
Wichers et al, 2009	502	100	27	Longitudinal	Stressful Life Events	Diagnosis of Depression, SCL-90-R	Partially positive	0.3803	1.84E-05
Zhang et al, 2009	792	54	33	Case- control	Stressful Life Events	Diagnosis of Depression	Opposite	0.9975	5.24E-06
Zhang et al, 2009	306	38	NA	Exposed only	Parkinson’s Disease	CES-D	Negative	0.5000	1.74E-05
Hammen et al, 2010	346	62	24	Longitudinal	Negative Acute Life Events, Chronic Family Stress at age 15	BDI	Partially positive	0.3763	1.86E-05
Benjet et al, in press	78	100	12	Cross- sectional	Relational Aggression	Children’s Depression Inventory	Positive	0.0050	1.94E-05
Goldman et al, in press	984	45	66	Longitudinal	Stressful Life Events	CES-D	Partially positive	0.0203	4.19E-05
Grassi et al, in press	145	100	56	Exposed only	Breast Cancer	Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale	Negative	0.5000	1.75E-05
Kumsta et al, in press	125	NA	11/15	Longitudinal	Institutionalization in Romanian orphanages at ages 6 – 42 months	CAPA, Rutter Child Scale, Strengths&Difficulties Questionnaire	Positive	0.0117	2.02E-05
Sen et al, in press	268	58	28	Longitudinal	Medical Internship	Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)	Positive	0.0020	2.54E-05
Sugden et al, in press	2017	51	12	Longitudinal	Bullying Victimization	ASEBA	Negative	0.1603	2.94E-05
Sum	40749
Average (N)	755								p=0.00002

^*“Positive” indicates a significant (p<0.05) interaction effect with the S allele, “Negative” indicates no interaction effect (p>0.05) and “Opposite” indicates a significant (p<0.05) interaction effect with the L allele.

^**One-tailed p value with smaller values indicating greater stress sensitivity among S allele subjects