Antipsychotic medication-mediated cognitive change in schizophrenia and polygenic score for cognitive ability

Abstract Objective The present study applied a developmentally based subgrouping procedure previously examined in chronic psychosis patients to a sample of first-episode psychosis (FEP) and examined change in cognition following treatment with antipsychotic medication. Method Medication naïve FEP patients (n = 119; age = 27.96; 63.9% male; 62.2% White, 32.8% Black, 5.0% Other) recruited during initial hospitalization were categorized into groups based on 1) estimated premorbid intellectual ability and 2) the discrepancy between predicted (modeled on 151 healthy controls) and current cognitive ability. Consistent with findings from chronic psychosis samples, groups were characterized as Preserved (n = 46; average premorbid, no discrepancy), Deteriorated (n = 44; average premorbid, significant discrepancy), and Compromised (n = 29, low premorbid and current cognitive ability). A mixed analysis of variance was used to examine change in a composite cognitive score derived from a comprehensive neuropsychological battery at baseline, 6 weeks, and 12 months. Results There was a significant group by time interaction [Figure 1; F(5.4142.4) = 2.81, p = 0.02] in which the Preserved group performed similar to healthy controls across all time points, the Compromised group demonstrated stable deficits after treatment, and the Deteriorated group diverged from the Compromised group at 6 weeks and 12 months. Discussion There is considerable cognitive heterogeneity in FEP at baseline and after initiation of antipsychotic medication. Findings of cognitive improvement in the Deteriorated group after treatment initiation suggests a differential response to antipsychotic medications that was not found in the Compromised or Preserved groups. Future work may benefit from examining medication and symptom severity as potential factors contributing to the unique change observed in the Deteriorated group.

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Heart rate reactivity is associated with future cognitive ability and cognitive change in a large community sample

International Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.08.004 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 82 (2) ◽

pp. 167-174 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Annie T. Ginty ◽

Anna C. Phillips ◽

Geoff Der ◽

Ian J. Deary ◽

Douglas Carroll

Keyword(s):

Heart Rate ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Community Sample ◽

Cognitive Change ◽

Heart Rate Reactivity ◽

Large Community

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Association between breastfeeding and better preserved cognitive ability in an elderly cohort of Finnish men

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291717002331 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 48 (6) ◽

pp. 939-951 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

V. Rantalainen ◽

J. Lahti ◽

M. Henriksson ◽

E. Kajantie ◽

M. Mikkonen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Ability ◽

Old Age ◽

Mixed Model ◽

Cognitive Change ◽

Intellectual Ability ◽

Birth Cohort Study ◽

Ability Test ◽

Mean Differences ◽

Elderly Cohort ◽

Duration Of Breastfeeding

BackgroundBeing breastfed in infancy has been shown to benefit neurodevelopment. However, whether the benefits persist to old age remains unclear.MethodsWe examined the associations between breastfeeding and its duration on cognitive ability in young adulthood and old age, and on aging-related cognitive change over five decades. In total, 931 men from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study born in 1934–1944 in Finland took the Finnish Defence Forces Basic Intellectual Ability Test (total and verbal, arithmetic and visuospatial subtest scores) twice, at ages 20.2 and 67.9 years, and had data on breastfeeding (yes v. no) and its duration (‘never breastfed’, ‘up to 3’, ‘3 to 6’ and ‘6 or more months’). Linear and mixed model regressions tested the associations.ResultsAt 20.2 years, breastfed men had higher cognitive ability total and visuospatial subtest scores [mean differences (MDs) ranged between 3.0–3.9, p values < 0.013], and its longer duration predicted higher cognitive ability total and arithmetic and visuospatial subtest scores (MDs ranged between 3.0 and 4.8, p values < 0.039). At 67.9 years, breastfed men had higher total cognitive ability and all subtest scores (MDs ranged between 2.6 and 3.4, p values < 0.044) and its longer duration predicted all cognitive ability scores (MDs ranged between 3.1 and 4.7, p values < 0.050). Verbal subtest scores decreased over five decades in men who were never breastfed or were breastfed for 3 months or less, and increased in those breastfed for longer than 3 months.ConclusionsNeurodevelopmental advantages of breastfeeding and its longer duration persist into old age, and longer duration of breastfeeding may benefit aging-related change, particularly in verbal reasoning ability.

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Sex-specific effects of polygenic risk for schizophrenia on lifespan cognitive functioning in healthy individuals

Translational Psychiatry ◽

10.1038/s41398-021-01649-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Elise Koch ◽

Lars Nyberg ◽

Anders Lundquist ◽

Sara Pudas ◽

Rolf Adolfsson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Cognitive Decline ◽

Cognitive Functioning ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Cognitive Change ◽

Polygenic Risk Score ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Polygenic Risk ◽

Specific Effects ◽

Male Specific

AbstractPolygenic risk for schizophrenia has been associated with lower cognitive ability and age-related cognitive change in healthy individuals. Despite well-established neuropsychological sex differences in schizophrenia patients, genetic studies on sex differences in schizophrenia in relation to cognitive phenotypes are scarce. Here, we investigated whether the effect of a polygenic risk score (PRS) for schizophrenia on childhood, midlife, and late-life cognitive function in healthy individuals is modified by sex, and if PRS is linked to accelerated cognitive decline. Using a longitudinal data set from healthy individuals aged 25–100 years (N = 1459) spanning a 25-year period, we found that PRS was associated with lower cognitive ability (episodic memory, semantic memory, visuospatial ability), but not with accelerated cognitive decline. A significant interaction effect between sex and PRS was seen on cognitive task performance, and sex-stratified analyses showed that the effect of PRS was male-specific. In a sub-sample, we observed a male-specific effect of the PRS on school performance at age 12 (N = 496). Our findings of sex-specific effects of schizophrenia genetics on cognitive functioning across the lifespan indicate that the effects of underlying disease genetics on cognitive functioning is dependent on biological processes that differ between the sexes.

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Higher baseline inflammatory marker levels predict greater cognitive decline in older people with type 2 diabetes: year 10 follow-up of the Edinburgh Type 2 Diabetes Study

Diabetologia ◽

10.1007/s00125-021-05634-w ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Anniek J. Sluiman ◽

Stela McLachlan ◽

Rachel B. Forster ◽

Mark W. J. Strachan ◽

Ian J. Deary ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Type 2 Diabetes ◽

Older People ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Cognitive Change ◽

General Cognitive Ability ◽

C Reactive Protein ◽

Cognitive Domains ◽

Reactive Protein ◽

Related Risk

Abstract Aims/hypothesis We aimed to determine the longitudinal association of circulating markers of systemic inflammation with subsequent long-term cognitive change in older people with type 2 diabetes. Methods The Edinburgh Type 2 Diabetes Study is a prospective cohort study of 1066 adults aged 60 to 75 years with type 2 diabetes. Baseline data included C-reactive protein, IL-6, TNF-α fibrinogen and neuropsychological testing on major cognitive domains. Cognitive testing was repeated after 10 years in 581 participants. A general cognitive ability score was derived from the battery of seven individual cognitive tests using principal component analysis. Linear regression was used to determine longitudinal associations between baseline inflammatory markers and cognitive outcomes at follow-up, with baseline cognitive test results included as covariables to model cognitive change over time. Results Following adjustment for age, sex and baseline general cognitive ability, higher baseline fibrinogen and IL-6 were associated with greater decline in general cognitive ability (standardised βs = −0.059, p=0.032 and −0.064, p=0.018, respectively). These associations lost statistical significance after adjustment for baseline vascular and diabetes-related covariables. When assessing associations with individual cognitive tests, higher IL-6 was associated with greater decline in tests of executive function and abstract reasoning (standardised βs = 0.095, p=0.006 and −0.127, p=0.001, respectively). Similarly, raised fibrinogen and C-reactive protein levels were associated with greater decline in processing speed (standardised βs = −0.115, p=0.001 and −0.111, p=0.001, respectively). These associations remained statistically significant after adjustment for the diabetes- and vascular-related risk factors. Conclusions/interpretation Higher baseline levels of inflammatory markers, including plasma IL-6, fibrinogen and C-reactive protein, were associated with subsequent cognitive decline in older people with type 2 diabetes. At least some of this association appeared to be specific to certain cognitive domains and to be independent of vascular and diabetes-related risk factors. Graphical abstract

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Neuroimaging and genetic correlates of cognitive ability and cognitive development in adolescence

10.31234/osf.io/8pwd6 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Stuart James Ritchie ◽

Erin Burke Quinlan ◽

Tobias Banaschewski ◽

Arun L.W. Bokde ◽

Sylvane Desrivieres ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Development ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Surface Area ◽

Cortical Thickness ◽

Cognitive Abilities ◽

Significant Degree ◽

Large Sample ◽

Polygenic Score ◽

Cortical Volume ◽

The Brain

Adolescence is marked by changes in cognitive abilities and in several MRI-based measures of brain structure. This study took an individual-differences approach to help understand adolescent cognitive development in a large-sample longitudinal cohort, the IMAGEN study (initial n = 2,316). We used a latent change score model to assess the associations between levels and changes in the brain’s grey-matter regions and latent general cognitive ability between ages 14 and 19 years. As expected, higher cognitive ability was correlated with higher cortical volume and larger surface area, with more ambiguous results for cortical thickness. Higher-ability participants at age 14 tended to have accelerated subsequent cortical thinning, as well as cortical volume loss. There was no statistically significant link between changes in cognitive ability and changes in the brain measures we used. We also attempted to predict levels and changes in the brain and in cognitive ability using a polygenic score for genetic variants linked to educational attainment: the score was modestly associated with the baseline measures, but did not predict the trajectory of change in any measure to a statistically significant degree. Age-14 cortical volume and surface area—though not cortical thickness—mediated a portion (9-10%) of the association between the polygenic score and age-19 cognitive ability. These findings demonstrate how large-sample data can shed light on the links between brain and cognitive ability in this important phase of the lifespan.

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Polygenic predictors of age-related decline in cognitive ability

Molecular Psychiatry ◽

10.1038/s41380-019-0372-x ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 25 (10) ◽

pp. 2584-2598 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Stuart J. Ritchie ◽

W. David Hill ◽

Riccardo E. Marioni ◽

Gail Davies ◽

Saskia P. Hagenaars ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Ability ◽

Association Studies ◽

Cognitive Change ◽

Genome Wide Association ◽

General Factor ◽

Genome Wide Association Studies ◽

Cognitive Ageing ◽

Health Lifestyle ◽

Genome Wide ◽

Polygenic Scores

AbstractPolygenic scores can be used to distil the knowledge gained in genome-wide association studies for prediction of health, lifestyle, and psychological factors in independent samples. In this preregistered study, we used fourteen polygenic scores to predict variation in cognitive ability level at age 70, and cognitive change from age 70 to age 79, in the longitudinal Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 study. The polygenic scores were created for phenotypes that have been suggested as risk or protective factors for cognitive ageing. Cognitive abilities within older age were indexed using a latent general factor estimated from thirteen varied cognitive tests taken at four waves, each three years apart (initialn = 1091 age 70; finaln = 550 age 79). The general factor indexed over two-thirds of the variance in longitudinal cognitive change. We ran additional analyses using an age-11 intelligence test to index cognitive change from age 11 to age 70. Several polygenic scores were associated with the level of cognitive ability at age-70 baseline (range of standardizedβ-values = –0.178 to 0.302), and the polygenic score for education was associated with cognitive change from childhood to age 70 (standardizedβ = 0.100). No polygenic scores were statistically significantly associated with variation in cognitive change between ages 70 and 79, and effect sizes were small. However,APOEe4 status made a significant prediction of the rate of cognitive decline from age 70 to 79 (standardizedβ = –0.319 for carriers vs. non-carriers). The results suggest that the predictive validity for cognitive ageing of polygenic scores derived from genome-wide association study summary statistics is not yet on a par withAPOEe4, a better-established predictor.

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Leisure activity associated with cognitive ability level, but not cognitive change

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01176 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Alan J. Gow ◽

Kirsten Avlund ◽

Erik L. Mortensen

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Ability ◽

Leisure Activity ◽

Cognitive Change ◽

Ability Level

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Validating Online Measures of Cognitive Ability in Genes for Good, a Genetic Study of Health and Behavior

Assessment ◽

10.1177/1073191117744048 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 136-148 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

MengZhen Liu ◽

Gianna Rea-Sandin ◽

Johanna Foerster ◽

Lars Fritsche ◽

Katharine Brieger ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Educational Attainment ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Genetic Study ◽

Fluid Intelligence ◽

Five Factor Model ◽

Association Studies ◽

Cognitive Measures ◽

Polygenic Score ◽

Genome Wide ◽

A Genome

Genetic association studies routinely require many thousands of participants to achieve sufficient power, yet accumulation of large well-assessed samples is costly. We describe here an effort to efficiently measure cognitive ability and personality in an online genetic study, Genes for Good. We report on the first 21,550 participants with relevant phenotypic data, 7,458 of whom have been genotyped genome-wide. Measures of crystallized and fluid intelligence reflected a two-dimensional latent ability space, with items demonstrating adequate item-level characteristics. The Big Five Inventory questionnaire revealed the expected five-factor model of personality. Cognitive measures predicted educational attainment over and above personality characteristics, as expected. We found that a genome-wide polygenic score of educational attainment predicted educational level, accounting for 4%, 4%, and 2.7% of the variance in educational attainment, verbal reasoning, and spatial reasoning, respectively. In summary, the online cognitive measures in Genes for Good appear to perform adequately and demonstrate expected associations with personality, education, and an education-based polygenic score. Results indicate that online cognitive assessment is one avenue to accumulate large samples of individuals for genetic research of cognitive ability.

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Job Strain and Trajectories of Cognitive Change Before and After Retirement

The Journals of Gerontology Series B ◽

10.1093/geronb/gbab033 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Charlotta Nilsen ◽

Monica E Nelson ◽

Ross Andel ◽

Michael Crowe ◽

Deborah Finkel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Functioning ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Sex Education ◽

Cognitive Aging ◽

Job Strain ◽

Cognitive Change ◽

Negative Influence ◽

General Cognitive Ability ◽

Before And After ◽

Ability Estimate

Abstract Objectives We examined associations between job strain and trajectories of change in cognitive functioning (general cognitive ability plus verbal, spatial, memory, and speed domains) before and after retirement. Method Data on indicators of job strain, retirement age, and cognitive factors were available from 307 members of the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging (SATSA). Participants were followed for up to 27 years (mean=15.4, SD=8.5). Results In growth curve analyses controlling for age, sex, education, depressive symptoms, cardiovascular health, and twinness, greater job strain was associated with worse memory (Estimate=-1.22, p=.007), speed (Estimate=-1.11, p=.012), spatial ability (Estimate=-0.96, p=.043), and general cognitive ability (Estimate=-1.33, p=.002) at retirement. Greater job strain was also associated with less improvement in general cognitive ability before retirement and a somewhat slower decline after retirement. The sex-stratified analyses showed that the smaller gains of general cognitive ability before retirement (Estimate=-1.09, p=.005) were only observed in women. Domain-specific analyses revealed that greater job strain was associated with less improvement in spatial (Estimate=-1.35, p=.010) and verbal (Estimate=-0.64, p=.047) ability before retirement in women, and a slower decline in memory after retirement in women (Estimate=0.85, p=.008) and men (Estimate=1.12, p=.013). Neither pre-retirement nor post-retirement speed was affected by job strain. Discussion Greater job strain may have a negative influence on overall cognitive functioning prior to and at retirement, while interrupting exposure to job strain (post-retirement) may slow the rate of cognitive aging. Reducing level of stress at work should be seen as a potential target for intervention to improve cognitive aging outcomes.

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