Background
Previous studies have reported that as a group, individuals affected by psychotic
and nonpsychotic disorders perform below norms on cognitive tests. Other studies have
indicated that unaffected siblings of individuals affected by psychotic disorders
also perform below norms on the same tests. We investigated cognitive performance
on a large, population-based sample of individuals, affected at the time of testing
by nonpsychotic disorders, and their unaffected siblings.
Methods
Subjects were taken from a population-based cohort of 523,375, 16- to 17-year-old
male adolescents who had been assessed by the Israeli Draft Board. Cognitive test
scores were examined in sib-pairs discordant for nonpsychotic (n = 19,489) and psychotic (n = 888) disorders and compared with 224,082 individuals from sibships with no evidence
of mental illness.
Results
There appears to be a gradient in cognitive performance (worst to best) from individuals
currently affected by psychotic illnesses (Cohen’s d = −.82), followed by individuals currently affected by nonpsychotic illness (Cohen’s
d = −.58), unaffected siblings of individuals affected by psychotic illness (Cohen’s
d = −.37), unaffected siblings of individuals affected by nonpsychotic illness (Cohen’s
d = −.27), and members of sibships with no evidence of mental illness. Unaffected siblings
of both psychotic and nonpsychotic individuals from multiple affected sibships (more
then one affected sibling) had worse cognitive test scores compared with unaffected
siblings from simplex sibships (only one affected sibling).
Conclusions
The results support, but do not prove, the notion that cognitive impairment in psychiatric
disorders is familial and cuts across diagnostic entities.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 10, 2007
Accepted:
May 16,
2007
Received in revised form:
May 13,
2007
Received:
February 25,
2007
Identification
Copyright
© 2008 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.