scholarly journals Childhood Socioeconomic Status and Polygenic Scores for Cognition Have Independent Associations with Cognitive Performance During Middle Childhood

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.E. Paul ◽  
N.M. Elsayed ◽  
R. Bogdan ◽  
S.M.C. Colbert ◽  
A.S. Hatoum ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
European Ancestry ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Median Income ◽  
Total N

ABSTRACTChildhood cognitive abilities are heritable and influenced by malleable environmental factors such as socioeconomic status (SES). As cognition and SES share genetic architecture, it is critical to understand the extent to which SES is associated with cognition beyond genetic propensity to inform the potential benefit of SES-based interventions. Previous investigations conducted in small samples have suggested that SES is linked with cognitive ability independent of polygenic prediction for educational attainment. Here, we extend this work to a large sample (total n = 4,650) of children (ages 9-10) of genomically-confirmed European ancestry. We find that an SES composite (i.e., family income-to-needs, caregiver education, and neighborhood median income) and a polygenic cognition score composite created using genomic structural equation modeling (COG PGS; Educational Attainment, Intelligence, and Executive Function) are associated with cognitive performance indices (i.e., general ability, executive function, learning/memory, fluid intelligence) that are largely independent of one another. SES x COG PGS interactions are not associated with cognition. These findings provide further evidence for the significant role of modifiable environmental factors in the development of cognitive abilities in youth.

scholarly journals Cognitive reserve in elderly: neuropsychological aspects and the education role in the latest findings

2015 ◽  
Vol 94 (3) ◽  
pp. 136
Author(s):  
João Gabriel Magalhães Dias ◽  
Pablo Rodrigo Andrade da Silva ◽  
Tânia Corrêa de Toledo Ferraz Alvez
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Elderly Population ◽  
Cognitive Reserve ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Cortical Atrophy ◽  
Print Exposure ◽  
Cognitive Markers

The elderly population is growing worldwide, and therefore cognitive decline and dementia is a major problem for healthcare system. However, many elders do not develop dementia or significant cognitive impairment even though present brain lesions, such as cortical atrophy and/or lesions, leading to the concept of Cognitive Reserve (CR). The main objective of this review is to establish the recent findings of CR in elderly cognition and explore some of the cognitive markers related to CR. In order to accomplish that we carried out a search for papers published either in English or Portuguese language in the last 5 years in the Medline database using as keywords cognitive reserve, elderly and aging/ageing. We filtered 14 studies that specifically approached the neuropsychological aspects (e.g, memory, attention, orientation, executive function) and reviewed them in detail. Based on these papers regarding old-aged individuals, education appears to have several implications on CR by strengthening cognitive abilities, however does not appear to impact on cognitive decline. Besides, we realized that cognitive performance is one of the form to measure CR, even though the methods cannot be standardized, which may be the cause of some varied conclusions. Regarding CR, education was the most prevalent measure, and CR seems to have a beneficial effect on executive function and episodic memory and it seems to act by both neural reserve and neural compensation. Print exposure appears as a potential variable positively related to cognitive performance and CR.

scholarly journals How Does Low Socioeconomic Status Increase Blood Lead Levelsin KoreanChildren?

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 1488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eunjung Kim ◽  
Ho-jang Kwon ◽  
Mina Ha ◽  
Ji-Ae Lim ◽  
Myung Lim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Low Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Blood Lead ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Korean Children ◽  
Low Socioeconomic

Although studies have shown that a low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with high blood lead levels (BLLs) in children, the mechanism underlying this observation is not well known. To determine how SES influences BLLs via environmental factors in Korean children, we conducted a population-based cross-sectional study of 4744 children aged 5–13 years. Questionnaires on sociodemographic information, environmental factors, and food consumption were administered to the children’s parents. BLLs in the study subjects were measured.The complete set of hypothesized associations was assessed using regression analysis and structural equation modeling. SES was associated with high BLLs. The total effects of nutritional factors, lead in the air and total length of nearby roads, and agriculture on BLLs were −0.062 (p < 0.001), 0.068 (p = 0.005), and 0.038 (p = 0.035), respectively. The direct effects of playing outdoors and SES on BLLs were 0.113 (p < 0.001) and −0.111 (p < 0.001), respectively. Although playing outdoors had a greater direct effect on BLLs than did SES, the total effect of SES (standardized β = −0.132, p < 0.001) was greater than that of other sources owing to indirect effects (β = −0.020, p = 0.004). A low SES was a major risk factor for elevated BLLs via environmental factors.

ABO Blood Group, Socioeconomic Status, and Cognitive Function: Evidence for Better Visual Recognition Associated with the Type O Phenotype

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Pluck
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Blood Group ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Shape Recognition ◽  
Blood Type ◽  
Abo Blood Group ◽  
Blood Group System

Background: The ABO blood group system is associated with neurological health and cognitive impairment, and also with structural differences in the healthy human brain. The current research aimed to examine how blood group may be associated with neuropsychological functions in non-clinical participants.Method: Participants were 132 students at two universities in Ecuador. All were assessed for blood group and a range of cognitive abilities with known neurological substrates: shape recognition (‘ventral visual route’), spatial vision (‘dorsal visual route’), language (left perisylvian), focused attention (right perisylvian), executive function (dorsal prefrontal), advantageous decision making (ventral prefrontal) and declarative (medial temporal) and procedural (basal ganglia) learning. Socioeconomic status (SES) was assessed as a potential confounding variable.Results: ABO blood type frequencies showed a cline, varying by site of data collection, and Type O blood was more common in participants from lower SES backgrounds. Additionally, higher SES was associated with better cognitive performance, significantly so for language, executive function and memory processes. With SES and data-collection site covaried, precategorical visual shape recognition was observed to be the only skill significantly associated with blood group, being better in participants with the Type O phenotype. This result was present in two different samples and was significant with or without the use of covariates.Conclusions: Human blood group classification is linked to variability in cognitive function, specifically, shape recognition performance associated with occipito-temporal processing. This may have implications for understanding variation in neurological and cognitive health, as well as cognitive abilities as individual differences.

scholarly journals The Impact of Bilingualism on Cognitive Functioning in Older Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 295-296
Author(s):  
Hillary Rouse ◽  
Brent Small ◽  
John Schinka
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Neuropsychological Assessments ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Research on bilingualism has found inconsistent results regarding its potential benefit on the cognitive abilities of older adults. The goal of the current study was to evaluate differences in cognition on a wide array of neuropsychological assessments between monolingual and bilingual cognitively healthy older adults who specifically speak only English and/or Spanish. The sample included cognitively intact older adults who were either monolingual (n=247) English speakers or bilingual (n=42) in English and Spanish. Performance was compared between groups from a battery of neuropsychological assessments that measured executive function, attention, short-term memory, and episodic memory. Compared to English and Spanish bilinguals, monolingual English speakers performed significantly better on a variety of tasks within the domains of executive function, attention, and short-term memory. No significant differences were found in favor of the bilinguals on any domain of cognitive performance. In the present study, we failed to observe a significant advantage for English and Spanish bilingual speakers on the cognitive performance of older adults when compared to monolingual English speakers. This study suggests that the bilingual advantage may not be as robust as originally reported, and the effects of bilingualism on cognition could be significantly impacted by the languages included in the study.

scholarly journals Holistic-comprehensive approaches to improve nutritional status of children under five years

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Febri Endra Budi Setyawan ◽  
Retno Lestari
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Nutritional Status ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
Partial Least Square ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Children Under Five ◽  
Under Five ◽  
Nutritional Status Of Children ◽  
Children Under 5

Background: Malnutrition has been identified as the leading cause of illness and death in almost half of children under 5 years. Hence, to prevent the impact of malnutrition on physical and psychological development, family physicians need to explore new approaches in the health care delivery models that go beyond the scope of practice. A holistic-comprehensive approach will help the physicians develop a more thorough assessment of nutritional status. This study aims to determine factors associated with the nutritional status of children under five years using holistic-comprehensive approaches.Design and Methods: A case–control design was implemented, with emphasis on the identification of cases and control groups; 48 children confirmed malnutrition cases and 48 control without malnutrition were recruited from a Community Integrated Health Center in East Java, Indonesia. The characteristics of agent, host and environment between groups were compared and analyzed using correlation coefficients, odds ratio, logistic regression analysis, and Structural Equation Modeling-Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS).Results: The SEM-PLS results showed that environmental factors have a greater influence on nutritional status (t-value >1.96), compared to the host factors. Furthermore, environmental factors having significant associations with nutritional status were poor socioeconomic status, low maternal educational level and not having exclusive breastfeeding. Also, the results of correlation coefficients and OR showed that birth weight (p=0.000, OR=33) and socioeconomic status (p=0.000, OR=22.3) had strong correlations with nutritional status. Conclusion: Holistic-comprehensive approaches can be used as new ways to determine factors that may be associated with nutritional status of children under 5 years of age.

scholarly journals Resource Compensation or Multiplication? The Interplay between Cognitive Ability and Social Origin in Explaining Educational Attainment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Stienstra ◽  
Ineke Maas ◽  
Antonie Knigge ◽  
Wiebke Schulz
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Compensation Effect ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Social Origin ◽  
Large Sample ◽  
Do So

Abstract While previous research has conclusively established that children with higher cognitive ability and those originating from advantaged socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds have better educational outcomes, the interplay between the influences of cognitive ability and social origin has been largely overlooked. The influence of cognitive ability might be weaker in high-SES families as a result of resource compensation, and stronger in high-SES families owing to resource multiplication. We investigate these mechanisms while taking into account the possibility that the association between cognitive ability and educational attainment might be partly spurious due to unobserved genetic and environmental influences. We do so by analysing a large sample of twins from the German TwinLife study (Npairs = 2,190). Our results show that the association between cognitive ability and educational attainment is to a large extent confounded by genetic and shared environmental factors. If this is not considered, and this is the case in most previous studies, high-SES parents seem to compensate for the lower cognitive ability of their children. However, when we consider the genetic and shared environmental confounding, the resource compensation effect becomes non-significant.

Socioeconomic status, executive functions and theory of mind ability in adolescents: relationships with language ability and cortisol

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Pluck
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
Executive Processes ◽  
Hair Samples ◽  
Cortisol Levels ◽  
The Impact

Socioeconomic status (SES) is linked to development of cognitive abilities, particularly language and executive processes. It is unclear whether these represent a single, or independent correlates. We studied 110 Ecuadorian youths aged 12-17 with measures of SES, language, executive function and theory of mind (ToM), a.k.a. mentalizing. A subsample gave hair samples to estimate past three-month cortisol levels. Restricting analyses to reliable measures, SES was highly associated with language skill, and to a lesser extent with executive function and ToM performance. However, those latter associations were greatly attenuated when language ability was controlled for statistically. Three-month systemic cortisol levels were not associated with SES, but were significantly and negatively correlated with ToM, independent of variation in language skills. We conclude that language development underlies most of the impact of SES on executive function and ToM ability of adolescents, but that stress-related cortisol may have an independent, direct effect on mentalizing.

scholarly journals GWAS meta-analysis reveals novel loci and genetic correlates for general cognitive function: a report from the COGENT consortium

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 336-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
J W Trampush ◽  
M L Z Yang ◽  
J Yu ◽  
E Knowles ◽  
G Davies ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Genome Wide Association Study ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Chromosome 1 ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
European Ancestry ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Genome Wide

Abstract The complex nature of human cognition has resulted in cognitive genomics lagging behind many other fields in terms of gene discovery using genome-wide association study (GWAS) methods. In an attempt to overcome these barriers, the current study utilized GWAS meta-analysis to examine the association of common genetic variation (~8M single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) with minor allele frequency ⩾1%) to general cognitive function in a sample of 35 298 healthy individuals of European ancestry across 24 cohorts in the Cognitive Genomics Consortium (COGENT). In addition, we utilized individual SNP lookups and polygenic score analyses to identify genetic overlap with other relevant neurobehavioral phenotypes. Our primary GWAS meta-analysis identified two novel SNP loci (top SNPs: rs76114856 in the CENPO gene on chromosome 2 and rs6669072 near LOC105378853 on chromosome 1) associated with cognitive performance at the genome-wide significance level (P<5 × 10−8). Gene-based analysis identified an additional three Bonferroni-corrected significant loci at chromosomes 17q21.31, 17p13.1 and 1p13.3. Altogether, common variation across the genome resulted in a conservatively estimated SNP heritability of 21.5% (s.e.=0.01%) for general cognitive function. Integration with prior GWAS of cognitive performance and educational attainment yielded several additional significant loci. Finally, we found robust polygenic correlations between cognitive performance and educational attainment, several psychiatric disorders, birth length/weight and smoking behavior, as well as a novel genetic association to the personality trait of openness. These data provide new insight into the genetics of neurocognitive function with relevance to understanding the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric illness.

Longitudinal predictors of adult socioeconomic attainment: The roles of socioeconomic status, academic competence, and mental health

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 315-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Slominski ◽  
Arnold Sameroff ◽  
Katherine Rosenblum ◽  
Tim Kasser
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Maternal Mental Health ◽  
Academic Competence ◽  
Occupational Attainment ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Socioeconomic Attainment ◽  
Family Ses

AbstractEducational attainment and occupational status are key markers of success in adulthood. We expand upon previous research that focused primarily on the contributions of academic competence and family socioeconomic status (SES) by investigating the role of mental health in predicting adult SES. In a longitudinal study spanning 30 years, we used structural equation modeling to examine how parental mental health in early childhood and family SES, offspring academic competence, and offspring mental health in adolescence relate to occupational and educational attainment at age 30. Results were that adolescent academic competence predicted adult educational attainment, and that educational attainment then predicted occupational attainment. The pathways between academic competence and occupational attainment, family SES and educational attainment, and family SES and occupational attainment were not significant. In contrast, adolescent mental health not only predicted educational attainment, but was also directly related to adult occupational attainment. Finally, early maternal mental health was associated with offspring's adult socioeconomic attainment through its relations with adolescent academic competence and mental health. These results highlight the importance of mental health to adult socioeconomic attainment.

scholarly journals Role of educational attainment, cognitive performance and intelligence in neurodegeneration: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandeep Grover ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Neurodegenerative Diseases ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Mendelian Randomization ◽  
Late Onset ◽  
Age Related Macular Degeneration ◽  
European Ancestry ◽  
Reverse Causality ◽  
Age Related

AbstractI examined the potential bi-directional causality between educational attainment (EA) (n = 766,345) and age related macular degeneration (AMD) (cases (n) =16144, controls (n) =17832) using the summary GWAS datasets on individuals with European ancestry. I used datasets on other late-onset neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) as controls to validate the findings. A risky effect of EA on AMD was observed (OR=1.318, 95% CI=1.080 −1.610, P=0.0068) after ruling out potential pleiotropy and absence of reverse causality. I further replicated previously observed protective and risky causal associations of EA with AD and PD.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document