Associations between intelligence, verbal working memory, and processing speed in parents with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and their 7-year-old offspring

Poster B27, Tuesday, October%209, 11:30%20am%20-%201:00%20pm, Essex%20Ballroom

Aja Neergaard Greve1,2, Jens Richardt Møllegaard Jepsen2,3,4,5, Ditte Gantriis1,2, Birgitte Klee Burton2,5, Ditte Ellersgaard2,4, Camilla Jerlang Christiani2,4, Nicoline Hemager2,4, Anne Thorup2,4, Merete Nordentoft2,4, Kerstin Plessen2,5,6, Ole Mors1,2, Vibeke Bliksted1,2,7; 1Psychosis Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital Risskov, Denmark, 2The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH), Aarhus, Denmark, 3Centre for Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research & Centre for Clinical Intervention and Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark, 4Mental Health Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Mental Health Services Capital Region, Denmark, 5Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 6Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Lausanne, Switzerland, 7Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Aarhus University

Purpose: Neurocognitive phenotypes with high heritability and genetic overlap with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder may contribute to the understanding of pathways from genetic risk to psychopathology. In this study, we aimed to investigate associations of the neurocognitive domains; intelligence, processing speed, and verbal working memory between parents and children in families with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and controls. Methods: The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study – VIA7, is a nationwide cohort identified through Danish Registries. The cohort includes children aged 7 with no, one or two parents with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and both biological parents. We assessed biological parents and children simultaneously using the same methodology. Main outcomes were intelligence measured with Reynolds Intellectual Screening Test (RIST), verbal working memory, and processing speed assessed with Letter Number Sequencing and Coding subtests (WISC-IV/WAIS-IV). Results: We examined 489 children, 151 parents with schizophrenia, 100 parents with bipolar disorder, 183 controls, and 443 co-parents without schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. We found significant and small to moderate positive correlations between children and affected parents as well as between children and co-parents. The intelligence scores showed the strongest correlations. We did not find significant differences between the three groups (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and controls) regarding the associations of intelligence, processing speed, and verbal working memory between children and parents. Conclusion: Findings showed associations of neurocognitive phenotypes between children and parents. These associations did not differ markedly between families with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and controls.

Topic Area: Neurocognition

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