Department of Psychiatry, Central Clinical School, Monash University and the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Department of Biochemistry & Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne VIC, Australia.
Psychol Med. 2023 Aug;53(11):5119-5126. doi: 10.1017/S0033291722002148. Epub 2022 Aug 3.
Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are complex mental illnesses that are associated with cognitive deficits. There is considerable cognitive heterogeneity that exists within both disorders. Studies that cluster schizophrenia and bipolar patients into subgroups based on their cognitive profile increasingly demonstrate that, relative to healthy controls, there is a severely compromised subgroup and a relatively intact subgroup. There is emerging evidence that telomere shortening, a marker of cellular senescence, may be associated with cognitive impairments. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between cognitive subgroups in bipolar-schizophrenia spectrum disorders and telomere length against a healthy control sample.
Participants included a transdiagnostic group diagnosed with bipolar, schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder ( = 73) and healthy controls ( = 113). Cognitive clusters within the transdiagnostic patient group, were determined using K-means cluster analysis based on current cognitive functioning (MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery scores). Telomere length was determined using quantitative PCRs genomic DNA extracted from whole blood. Emergent clusters were then compared to the healthy control group on telomere length.
Two clusters emerged within the patient group that were deemed to reflect a relatively intact cognitive group and a cognitively impaired subgroup. Telomere length was significantly shorter in the severely impaired cognitive subgroup compared to the healthy control group.
This study replicates previous findings of transdiagnostic cognitive subgroups and associates shorter telomere length with the severely impaired cognitive subgroup. These findings support emerging literature associating cognitive impairments in psychiatric disorders to accelerated cellular aging as indexed by telomere length.
精神分裂症和双相情感障碍是复杂的精神疾病，与认知缺陷有关。这两种疾病都存在相当大的认知异质性。基于认知特征对精神分裂症和双相情感障碍患者进行分组的研究越来越多地表明，与健康对照组相比，存在严重受损的亚组和相对完整的亚组。越来越多的证据表明，端粒缩短，一种细胞衰老的标志物，可能与认知障碍有关。本研究旨在探讨双相情感障碍-精神分裂症谱系障碍患者的认知亚组与端粒长度与健康对照组之间的关系。
参与者包括一组被诊断为双相、精神分裂症或分裂情感障碍的跨诊断组（=73 人）和健康对照组（=113 人）。基于当前认知功能（MATRICS 共识认知电池评分），使用 K-均值聚类分析确定跨诊断患者组中的认知聚类。使用定量 PCR 从全血中提取基因组 DNA 来确定端粒长度。然后将新兴聚类与健康对照组的端粒长度进行比较。
在患者组中出现了两个聚类，被认为反映了一个相对完整的认知组和一个认知受损的亚组。与健康对照组相比，严重认知受损亚组的端粒长度明显缩短。
本研究复制了跨诊断认知亚组的先前发现，并将较短的端粒长度与严重认知受损的亚组联系起来。这些发现支持了将精神障碍中的认知障碍与端粒长度所指示的加速细胞衰老联系起来的新兴文献。
