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Background: Genetic research has shown promise to uncover disease mechanisms of major depression (MD). However, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of MD have mostly been conducted in samples of European descent. The lack of diversity has resulted in missed scientific opportunities and could increase health disparities.

Methods: We used data from 84,397 MD cases and 904,170 controls with African (198K), East Asian (205K), South Asian (34K) and Hispanic/Latinx (376K) ancestry from 17 studies and combined them with previously published data from 258,486 cases and 573,874 controls with European ancestry. We carried out genome-wide association meta-analyses using a fixed-effect model, followed by fine-mapping. We estimated power-adjusted transferability (PAT) ratios to quantify transferability of genetic loci across ancestry groups. We carried out a transcription-wide association study …