Clinic for Psychiatry, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia.
Clinic for Psychiatry, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia; School of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
Psychiatry Res. 2016 Dec 30;246:52-57. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2016.09.022. Epub 2016 Sep 15.
Alterations in general intellectual ability and social cognition in schizophrenia are core features of the disorder, evident at the illness' onset and persistent throughout its course. However, previous studies examining cognitive alterations in siblings discordant for schizophrenia yielded inconsistent results. Present study aimed to investigate the nature of the association between facial emotion recognition and general IQ by applying genetically sensitive cross-trait cross-sibling design. Participants (total n=158; patients, unaffected siblings, controls) were assessed using the Benton Facial Recognition Test, the Degraded Facial Affect Recognition Task (DFAR) and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III. Patients had lower IQ and altered facial emotion recognition in comparison to other groups. Healthy siblings and controls did not significantly differ in IQ and DFAR performance, but siblings exhibited intermediate angry facial expression recognition. Cross-trait within-subject analyses showed significant associations between overall DFAR performance and IQ in all participants. Within-trait cross-sibling analyses found significant associations between patients' and siblings' IQ and overall DFAR performance, suggesting their familial clustering. Finally, cross-trait cross-sibling analyses revealed familial covariation of facial emotion recognition and IQ in siblings discordant for schizophrenia, further indicating their familial etiology. Both traits are important phenotypes for genetic studies and potential early clinical markers of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.
精神分裂症患者的一般智力和社会认知能力改变是该疾病的核心特征，在疾病发病时就很明显，并在整个病程中持续存在。然而，先前研究精神分裂症患者同病异质的兄弟姐妹的认知改变的研究结果并不一致。本研究旨在通过应用具有遗传敏感性的跨特质同卵双生子设计来探讨面部情绪识别与一般智商之间的关联性质。参与者（总 n=158；患者、未受影响的兄弟姐妹、对照组）使用本顿面部识别测验、退化面部情感识别任务（DFAR）和韦氏成人智力量表-III 进行评估。与其他组相比，患者的智商和面部情绪识别能力较低。健康的兄弟姐妹和对照组在智商和 DFAR 表现上没有显著差异，但兄弟姐妹在识别愤怒表情方面表现出中等水平。跨特质的个体内分析显示，在所有参与者中，整体 DFAR 表现与智商之间存在显著关联。特质内的同卵双生子分析发现，患者和兄弟姐妹的智商与整体 DFAR 表现之间存在显著关联，表明它们具有家族聚集性。最后，跨特质的同卵双生子分析显示，精神分裂症患者同病异质的兄弟姐妹的面部情绪识别和智商存在家族共变，进一步表明其具有家族遗传病因。这两个特征都是遗传研究的重要表型，也是精神分裂症谱系障碍的潜在早期临床标志物。
