Genetic overlap between episodic memory deficits and schizophrenia: results from The Maudsley Twin Study

2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 521-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. F. Owens ◽  
M. M. Picchioni ◽  
F. V. Rijsdijk ◽  
D. Stahl ◽  
E. Vassos ◽  
...  

BackgroundVisual and verbal episodic memory deficits are putative endophenotypes for schizophrenia; however, the extent of any genetic overlap of these with schizophrenia is unclear. In this study, we set out to quantify the genetic and environmental contributions to variance in visual and verbal memory performance, and to quantify their genetic relationship with schizophrenia.MethodWe applied bivariate genetic modelling to 280 twins in a classic twin study design, including monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) pairs concordant and discordant for schizophrenia, and healthy control twins. We assessed episodic memory using subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scale – Revised (WMS-R).ResultsGenetic influences (i.e. heritability) contributed significantly to variance in immediate recall of both verbal memory and visual learning, and the delayed recall of verbal and visual memory. Liability to schizophrenia was associated with memory impairment, with evidence of significant phenotypic correlations between all episodic memory measures and schizophrenia. Genetic factors were the main source of the phenotypic correlations for immediate recall of visual learning material; both immediate and delayed recall of verbal memory; and delayed recall of visual memory that, for example, shared genetic variance with schizophrenia, which accounted for 88% of the phenotypic correlation (rph=0.41) between the two.ConclusionsVerbal memory and visual learning and memory are moderately heritable, share a genetic overlap with schizophrenia and are valid endophenotypes for the condition. The inclusion of these endophenotypes in genetic association studies may improve the power to detect susceptibility genes for schizophrenia.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliane Borca Almeida ◽  
Geise Silva ◽  
Isabella Avolio ◽  
Camila Dias ◽  
Maíra Oliveira ◽  
...  

Background: MCI can be classified as amnestic (aMCI) or non-amnestic (naMCI). Patients with aMCI are at increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The clinical diagnosis encompasses episodic memory decline with preservation of activities of daily living, in addition to possible changes in other cognitive domains. Nevertheless, there is a lack of studies in the Brazilian population comparing the performance of aMCI on different episodic memory tests. Objectives: This study investigated episodic memory alterations in patients with aMCI and healthy controls (HC) through population-validated tests. Methods: We included 54 individuals, 36 aMCI and 18 HC. The neuropsychological protocol included estimated total IQ [vocabulary and matrix reasoning], Logical Memory (LM), Visual Reproduction (VR) and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). Results: Significant differences were found between the groups in LM delayed recall (p=0.048); Visual Memory immediate recall (p=0.002); Visual Memory delayed recall (p=0.006); RAVLT immediate recall (p=0.19); RAVLT delayed recall (p=0.006) and RAVLT recognition (p=0.001). Conclusions: aMCI patients showed significant cognitive deficits in all episodic memory tests, except for the LM immediate recall. These findings corroborate the international literature and indicate the possibility of identifying differential cognitive alterations in the MCI.


2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 654-662 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Chapman ◽  
Mark Mapstone ◽  
Margaret N. Gardner ◽  
Tiffany C. Sandoval ◽  
John W. McCrary ◽  
...  

AbstractWe analyzed verbal episodic memory learning and recall using the Logical Memory (LM) subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale-III to determine how gender differences in AD compare to those seen in normal elderly and whether or not these differences impact assessment of AD. We administered the LM to both an AD and a Control group, each comprised of 21 men and 21 women, and found a large drop in performance from normal elders to AD. Of interest was a gender interaction whereby the women's scores dropped 1.6 times more than the men's did. Control women on average outperformed Control men on every aspect of the test, including immediate recall, delayed recall, and learning. Conversely, AD women tended to perform worse than AD men. Additionally, the LM achieved perfect diagnostic accuracy in discriminant analysis of AD versus Control women, a statistically significantly higher result than for men. The results indicate the LM is a more powerful and reliable tool in detecting AD in women than in men. (JINS, 2011, 17, 654–662)


2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT J. THOMA ◽  
MOLLIE MONNIG ◽  
FAITH M. HANLON ◽  
GREGORY A. MILLER ◽  
HELEN PETROPOULOS ◽  
...  

AbstractPrevious studies of schizophrenia have suggested a linkage between neuropsychological (NP) deficits and hippocampus abnormality. The relationship between hippocampus volume and NP functioning was investigated in 24 patients with chronic schizophrenia and 24 matched healthy controls. Overall intracranial, white and gray matter, and anterior (AH) and posterior (PH) hippocampus volumes were assessed from magnetic resonance images (MRI). NP domains of IQ, attention, and executive function were also evaluated with respect to volumetric measures. It was hypothesized that AH and PH volumes and episodic memory scores would be positively associated in controls and that the schizophrenia group would depart from this normative pattern. NP functioning was impaired overall and AH volume was smaller in the schizophrenia group. In the controls, the hippocampus–memory relationships involved AH and PH, and correlations were significant for verbal memory measures. In the schizophrenia group, positive correlations were constrained to PH. Negative correlations emerged between AH and verbal and visual memory measures. For both groups, cortical volume negatively correlated with age, but a negative correlation between age and hippocampus volume was found only in the schizophrenia group. In this sample of adults with schizophrenia, atypical relationships between regional hippocampus volumes and episodic memory ability were found, as was an atypical negative association between hippocampus volume and age. (JINS, 2009, 15, 182–195.)


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Zofia Klekociuk ◽  
Mathew James Summers

Previous studies of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) have been criticised for using the same battery of neuropsychological tests during classification and longitudinal followup. The key concern is that there is a potential circularity when the same tests are used to identify MCI and then subsequently monitor change in function over time. The aim of the present study was to examine the evidence of this potential circularity problem. The present study assessed the memory function of 72 MCI participants and 50 healthy controls using an alternate battery of visual and verbal episodic memory tests 9 months following initial comprehensive screening assessment and MCI classification. Individuals who were classified as multiple-domain amnestic MCI (a-MCI+) at screening show a significantly reduced performance in visual and verbal memory function at followup using a completely different battery of valid and reliable tests. Consistent with their initial classification, those identified as nonamnestic MCI (na-MCI) or control at screening demonstrated the highest performance across the memory tasks. The results of the present study indicate that persistent memory deficits remain evident in amnestic MCI subgroups using alternate memory tests, suggesting that the concerns regarding potential circularity of logic may be overstated in MCI research.


2007 ◽  
Vol 101 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1125-1132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith A. Hudetz ◽  
David C. Warltier

Either diabetes or alcohol abuse can impair cognitive function, especially at older ages. Whether a history of alcohol abuse increases the risk for cognitive impairment in diabetic patients has not been examined. Cognitive function of type 2 diabetic subjects with a history of alcohol abuse was expected to be more impaired than that of subjects with either diabetes or alcohol abuse alone. Men, >55 years of age, were categorized as 15 alcoholic-diabetic; 15 alcoholic-nondiabetic; 15 nonalcoholic-diabetic; 15 nonalcoholic-nondiabetic, and matched on age, sex, and education. Participants' verbal memory, visuospatial memory, and executive functions were assessed using a neurocognitive test battery. Significant interactions of diabetes and alcoholism for Visual Delayed Recall, Story Immediate Recall, and Story Delayed Recall implied that diabetes and alcohol abuse enhanced each other's effect in lowering cognitive test scores. Alcohol abuse history in older diabetic subjects presents an increased risk for cognitive impairment.


2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 488-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Panizzon ◽  
Michael J. Lyons ◽  
Kristen C. Jacobson ◽  
Carol E. Franz ◽  
Michael D. Grant ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 194-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen L. Siedlecki

Abstract. Individuals between the ages of 18 and 94 (N = 326) completed a battery of episodic memory tasks, as well as several measures of spatial visualization. A female advantage in verbal episodic memory and a male advantage in spatial and visual episodic memory were observed. Mediation analyses provided evidence that performance on spatial visualization tasks greatly influences the magnitude of the effect for sex differences among the different episodic memory constructs. In particular, the spatial visualization construct fully mediated the relationship between sex and episodic spatial memory performance. Further, when spatial visualization was included as a mediator in the model the relationship between sex and episodic verbal memory increased, and the relationship between sex and episodic visual memory reversed, such that women scored higher than men.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. M. Bittner ◽  
V. Bittner ◽  
M. W. Riepe

In the continuum of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and normal controls, a possible association of verbal memory and endogenous estradiol (E2) levels was investigated. Verbal episodic memory was measured with a german version of the California verbal memory test (CVLT). Results were controlled for apolipoprotein E (ApoE) phenotype. We studied 37 controls, 32 MCIs and 117 ADs. Groups differed in all trials of the CVLT and in E2levels . E2 levels differed significantly between groups only among females . In females correcting for age and ApoE, there was an overall correlation between CVLT delayed recall and level of E2  . Stepwise regression analyses found E2level to be a significant predictor for CVLT delayed recall . It may be concluded that lower E2levels occur more in the course of the disease than may be considered as a risk factor per se.


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S182-S182
Author(s):  
Ramiro Reckziegel ◽  
Dayane dos Santos Martins ◽  
Sarah Correa de Sales ◽  
Letícia Stephane de Jesus ◽  
Marieli Philippsen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Episodic verbal memory primarily indicates acquisition or registration of memory for verbally presented information, being one of the main neuropsychological impaired functions in individuals with schizophrenia. Furthermore, it appears to be more susceptible than other memory systems to early neuronal dysfunction, supporting hypotheses about a neuroprogressive course of schizophrenia (SZ). On the other hand, it is unclear if such memory dysfunction in schizophrenia could not only be associated with illness progression, but also with neurodevelopment markers such as premorbid crystallized intellectual functioning (IQ). Therefore, we aimed to better understand the relationship between years of illness (YOI), IQ and episodic verbal memory in individuals with SZ. Methods We included 218 individuals with confirmed diagnosis of SZ from 3 separate centers (Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Brazil; Hospital de Clínicas da Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brazil, and Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Spain). All participants were informed about study procedures and signed consent before assessment. Participants underwent cognitive assessment with Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT) for episodic memory and Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence for estimated crystallized premorbid IQ. We conducted a mediational analysis to estimate the effect sizes of years of illness in predicting memory deficits considering the indirect effect of IQ as a mediator, as well as age and sex as covariates. Results There was a significant indirect effect of years of illness on HVLT immediate recall through IQ, ab=-.119 CI 95% [-.248, -.013]. The mediator could account for more than a third of the total effect, PM=.39. The direct effect of years of illness on immediate recall was only a trend (c: -.09, p= .068), while the total effect counting IQ was significant (c’=-.15, p=.007). Discussion The effect sizes of IQ were greater than the direct effect of years of illness on memory deficits in our sample. This finding implicates that neurodevelopment markers such as IQ may be as important as disease progression itself in predicting cognitive outcomes in SZ. While patients with lower premorbid IQ appears to be more prone to memory deficits, those with better early intellectual development appears to count on a protective effect. Neuroprogression in schizophrenia would be an addition of neurodevelopment and disease progression. These results help to give new lights on the heterogeneity in the course of schizophrenia, different trajectories and the need of more personalized approach. Further prospective studies are mandatory.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanjie Zhang ◽  
Yongzhi Ma ◽  
Shihui Chen ◽  
Xiaolei Liu ◽  
Hye Jung Kang ◽  
...  

Objective: The purpose of this systematic review is to quantitatively estimate (or invest) the impacts of sports-related concussions (SRCs) on cognitive performance among retired athletes more than 10 years after retirement. Methods: Six databases including (MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, CINAHL, and PsycArtilces) were employed to retrieve the related studies. Studies that evaluate the association between cognitive function and the SRC of retired athletes sustaining more than 10 years were included. Results: A total of 11 studies that included 792 participants (534 retired athletes with SRC) were identified. The results indicated that the retired athletes with SRCs, compared to the non-concussion group, had significant cognitive deficits in verbal memory (SMD = −0.29, 95% CI −0.59 to −0.02, I2 = 52.8%), delayed recall (SMD = −0.30, 95% CI –0.46 to 0.07, I2 = 27.9%), and attention (SMD = −0.33, 95% CI −0.59 to −0.06, I2 = 0%). Additionally, meta-regression demonstrated that the period of time between testing and the last concussion is significantly associated with reduced verbal memory (β = −0.03681, p = 0.03), and increasing age is significantly associated with the verbal memory (β = −0.03767, p = 0.01), immediate recall (β = −0.08684, p = 0.02), and delay recall (β = −0.07432, p = 0.02). Conclusion: The retired athletes who suffered from SRCs during their playing career had declined cognitive performance in partial domains (immediate recall, visuospatial ability, and reaction time) later in life.


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