Xu Chunsheng, Sun Jianping, Duan Haiping, Ji Fuling, Tian Xiaocao, Zhai Yaoming, Wang Shaojie, Pang Zengchang, Zhang Dongfeng, Zhao Zhongtang, Li Shuxia, Gue Matt Mc, Hjelmborg Jacob V B, Christensen Kaare, Tan Qihua
Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China Qingdao Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Qingdao, China.
Qingdao Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Qingdao, China.
Age Ageing. 2015 May;44(3):452-7. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afv015. Epub 2015 Apr 1.
the genetic and environmental contributions to cognitive function in the old people have been well addressed for the Western populations using twin modelling showing moderate to high heritability. No similar study has been conducted in the world largest and rapidly ageing Chinese population living under distinct environmental condition as the Western populations.
this study aims to explore the genetic and environmental impact on normal cognitive ageing in the Chinese twins.
DESIGN/SETTING: cognitive function was measured on 384 complete twin pairs with median age of 50 years for seven cognitive measurements including visuospatial, linguistic skills, naming, memory, attention, abstraction and orientation abilities. Data were analysed by fitting univariate and bivariate twin models to estimate the genetic and environmental components in the variance and co-variance of the cognitive assessments.
intra-pair correlation on cognitive measurements was low to moderate in monozygotic twins (0.23-0.41, overall 0.42) and low in dizygotic twins (0.05-0.30, overall 0.31) with the former higher than the latter for each item. Estimate for heritability was moderate for overall cognitive function (0.44, 95% CI: 0.34-0.53) and low to moderate for visuospatial, naming, attention and orientation abilities ranging from 0.28 to 0.38. No genetic contribution was estimated to linguistic skill, abstraction and memory which instead were under low to moderate control by shared environmental factors accounting for 23-33% of the total variances. In contrast, all cognitive performances showed moderate to high influences by the unique environmental factors.
genetic factor and common family environment have a limited contribution to cognitive function in the Chinese adults. Individual unique environment is likely to play a major role in determining the levels of cognitive performance.
对于西方人群，利用双胞胎模型已很好地研究了遗传和环境因素对老年人认知功能的影响，结果显示遗传度为中度到高度。世界上规模最大且迅速老龄化的中国人群，其生活环境与西方人群不同，尚未有类似研究。
本研究旨在探讨遗传和环境因素对中国双胞胎正常认知衰老的影响。
设计/地点：对384对完整双胞胎进行认知功能测量，双胞胎的年龄中位数为50岁，测量包括视觉空间、语言技能、命名、记忆、注意力、抽象能力和定向能力在内的7项认知指标。通过拟合单变量和双变量双胞胎模型分析数据，以估计认知评估方差和协方差中的遗传和环境成分。
同卵双胞胎认知测量的对内相关性为低到中度（0.23 - 0.41，总体为0.42），异卵双胞胎为低（0.05 - 0.30，总体为0.31），每项指标前者均高于后者。总体认知功能的遗传度估计为中度（0.44，95%可信区间：0.34 - 0.53），视觉空间、命名、注意力和定向能力的遗传度为低到中度，范围在0.28至0.38之间。未估计到语言技能、抽象能力和记忆的遗传贡献，相反，它们受共享环境因素的低到中度控制，共享环境因素占总方差的23% - 33%。相比之下，所有认知表现均受独特环境因素的中度到高度影响。
遗传因素和共同家庭环境对中国成年人认知功能的贡献有限。个体独特环境可能在决定认知表现水平方面起主要作用。
