Associations between schizophrenia polygenic liability, symptom dimensions, and cognitive ability in schizophrenia

Legge, Sophie, Cardno, Alastair, Allardyce, Judith ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4094-552X, Dennison, Charlotte ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7493-2041, Hubbard, Leon, Pardinas, Antonio ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6845-7590, Richards, Alexander, Rees, Elliott ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6168-9222, Di Florio, Arianna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0338-2748, Escott-Price, Valentina ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1784-5483, Zammit, Stanley ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2647-9211, Holmans, Peter ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0870-9412, Owen, Michael J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4798-0862, O'Donovan, Michael C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7073-2379 and Walters, James T. R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6980-4053 2021. Associations between schizophrenia polygenic liability, symptom dimensions, and cognitive ability in schizophrenia. JAMA Psychiatry 78 (10) , pp. 1143-1151. 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.1961

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Abstract

Importance: Schizophrenia is a clinically heterogeneous disorder. It is currently unclear how variability in symptom dimensions and cognitive ability is associated with genetic liability for schizophrenia. Objective: To determine whether phenotypic dimensions within schizophrenia are associated with genetic liability to schizophrenia, other neuropsychiatric disorders, and intelligence. Design, Setting, and Participants: In a genetic association study, 3 cross-sectional samples of 1220 individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were recruited from community, inpatient, and voluntary sector mental health services across the UK. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to create phenotypic dimensions from lifetime ratings of the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms, Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms, and the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery. Analyses of polygenic risk scores (PRSs) were used to assess whether genetic liability to schizophrenia, other neuropsychiatric disorders, and intelligence were associated with these phenotypic dimensions. Data collection for the cross-sectional studies occurred between 1993 and 2016. Data analysis for this study occurred between January 2019 and March 2021. Main Outcomes and Measures: Outcome measures included phenotypic dimensions defined from confirmatory factor analysis relating to positive symptoms, negative symptoms of diminished expressivity, negative symptoms of motivation and pleasure, disorganized symptoms, and current cognitive ability. Exposure measures included PRSs for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and intelligence. Results: Of the 1220 study participants, 817 were men (67.0%). Participants’ mean (SD) age at interview was 43.10 (12.74) years. Schizophrenia PRS was associated with increased disorganized symptom dimension scores in both a 5-factor model (β = 0.14; 95% CI, 0.07-0.22; P = 2.80 × 10−4) and a 3-factor model across all samples (β = 0.10; 95% CI, 0.05-0.15; P = 2.80 × 10−4). Current cognitive ability was associated with genetic liability to schizophrenia (β = −0.11; 95% CI, −0.19 to −0.04; P = 1.63 × 10−3) and intelligence (β = 0.23; 95% CI, 0.16-0.30; P = 1.52 × 10−10). After controlling for estimated premorbid IQ, current cognitive performance was associated with schizophrenia PRS (β = −0.08; 95% CI, −0.14 to −0.02; P = 8.50 × 10−3) but not intelligence PRS. Conclusions and Relevance: The findings of this study suggest that genetic liability for schizophrenia is associated with higher disorganized dimension scores but not other symptom dimensions. Cognitive performance in schizophrenia appears to reflect distinct contributions from genetic liabilities to both intelligence and schizophrenia.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Medicine MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (CNGG)
Additional Information:	This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License
Publisher:	American Medical Association
ISSN:	2168-622X
Funders:	MRC, Wellcome Trust
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	2 June 2021
Date of Acceptance:	27 May 2021
Last Modified:	17 Jan 2024 02:22
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/141704

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