Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), Sydney, NSW 2031, Australia.
Rev Neurosci. 2021 Apr 26;33(1):43-57. doi: 10.1515/revneuro-2021-0038. Print 2022 Jan 27.
Empathy is essential for navigating complex social environments. Prior work has shown associations between rs53576, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) located in the oxytocin receptor gene (), and generalized empathy. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the effects of rs53576 on subdomains of empathy, specifically cognitive empathy (CE) and affective empathy (AE), in healthy adults. Twenty cohorts of 8933 participants aged 18-98 were identified, including data from the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study, a cohort of older community adults. Meta-analyses found G homozygotes had greater generalized empathic abilities only in young to middle-aged adults. While meta-analyses of empathy subdomains yielded no significant overall effects, there were differential effects based on ethnicity. G homozygotes were associated with greater CE abilities in Asian cohorts (standardized mean difference; SMD: 0.09 [2.8·10-0.18]), and greater AE performance in European cohorts [SMD: 0.12 (0.04-0.21)]. The current literature highlights a need for further work that distinguishes between genetic and ethnocultural effects and explores effects of advanced age on this relationship.
同理心对于驾驭复杂的社会环境至关重要。先前的研究表明，位于催产素受体基因（）中的单核苷酸多态性（SNP）rs53576 与广义同理心之间存在关联。我们进行了系统的综述和荟萃分析，以评估 rs53576 对同理心的亚领域，特别是认知同理心（CE）和情感同理心（AE），在健康成年人中的影响。确定了 20 个队列，共 8933 名年龄在 18-98 岁的参与者，其中包括来自悉尼记忆与衰老研究的队列，这是一个年龄较大的社区成年人队列。荟萃分析发现，G 纯合子仅在年轻到中年成年人中具有更高的广义同理心能力。虽然同理心亚领域的荟萃分析没有产生显著的总体影响，但基于种族存在差异效应。G 纯合子与亚洲队列的 CE 能力更高相关（标准化均数差；SMD：0.09 [2.8·10-0.18]），与欧洲队列的 AE 表现更高相关[SMD：0.12（0.04-0.21）]。当前的文献强调需要进一步区分遗传和种族文化影响，并探索年龄对这种关系的影响。
