Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK.
Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA USA ; Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research and Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA USA.
Mol Autism. 2015 Jul 22;6:44. doi: 10.1186/s13229-015-0037-9. eCollection 2015.
This twin study investigated whether autistic traits during childhood were associated with adolescent psychotic experiences.
Data were collected from a community sample of approximately 5000 twin pairs, which included 32 individuals with diagnosed autism spectrum conditions (ASC). Parents rated autistic traits in the twins at four points between ages 8-16 years. Positive, negative, and cognitive psychotic experiences were assessed at age 16 years using self- and parent-report scales. Longitudinal twin analyses tested the associations between these measures.
Autistic traits correlated weakly or nonsignificantly with positive psychotic experiences (paranoia, hallucinations, and grandiosity), and modestly with cognitive psychotic experiences (cognitive disorganisation). Higher correlations were observed for parent-rated negative symptoms and self-reported anhedonia, although the proportion of variance in both accounted for by autistic traits was low (10 and 31 %, respectively). The majority of the genetic influences on negative symptoms and anhedonia were independent of autistic traits. Additionally, individuals with ASC displayed significantly more negative symptoms, anhedonia, and cognitive disorganisation than controls.
Autistic traits do not appear to be strongly associated with psychotic experiences in adolescence; associations were also largely restricted to negative symptoms. Of note, the degree to which the genetic and environmental causes of autistic traits influenced psychotic experiences was limited. These findings thus support a phenotypic and etiological distinction between autistic traits and psychotic experiences.
本双胞胎研究旨在调查儿童时期的自闭症特征是否与青少年期的精神病性体验有关。
数据来自于一个大约 5000 对双胞胎的社区样本，其中包括 32 名被诊断为自闭症谱系障碍（ASC）的个体。父母在双胞胎 8-16 岁之间的四个时间点评估他们的自闭症特征。使用自我报告和父母报告量表在 16 岁时评估阳性、阴性和认知性精神病性体验。纵向双胞胎分析测试了这些测量之间的关联。
自闭症特征与阳性精神病性体验（妄想、幻觉和夸大）相关较弱或无显著相关，与认知性精神病性体验（认知紊乱）中度相关。父母评定的阴性症状和自我报告的快感缺失与自闭症特征的相关性更高，但自闭症特征解释的方差比例较低（分别为 10%和 31%）。阴性症状和快感缺失的大部分遗传影响与自闭症特征无关。此外，ASC 个体比对照组表现出更多的阴性症状、快感缺失和认知紊乱。
自闭症特征似乎与青少年期的精神病性体验没有很强的关联；关联也主要限于阴性症状。值得注意的是，自闭症特征对精神病性体验的遗传和环境原因的影响程度有限。因此，这些发现支持自闭症特征和精神病性体验之间的表型和病因学区别。
