Social Cognition, Language, and Social Behavior in 7-Year-Old Children at Familial High-Risk of Developing Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder: The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study VIA 7—A Population-Based Cohort Study. (10th March 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Christiani, Camilla Jerlang; Jepsen, Jens R M; Thorup, Anne; Hemager, Nicoline; Ellersgaard, Ditte; Spang, Katrine S; Burton, Birgitte K; Gregersen, Maja; Søndergaard, Anne; Greve, Aja N; Gantriis, Ditte L; Poulsen, Gry; Uddin, Md Jamal; Seidman, Larry J; Mors, Ole; Plessen, Kerstin J; Nordentoft, Merete
• Is Part Of: Schizophrenia bulletin. Volume 45:Number 6(2019)
• Page Start: 1218
• Page End: 1230
• Publication Date: 2019-03-10
• Subjects: neurodevelopment -- theory of mind -- facial affect identification -- language -- social functioning -- offspring; Schizophrenia -- Periodicals; Schizophrenia -- Research -- Periodicals; 616.898005
• DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbz001
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0586-7614

Abstract

Abstract: Objective: To characterize social cognition, language, and social behavior as potentially shared vulnerability markers in children at familial high-risk of schizophrenia (FHR-SZ) and bipolar disorder (FHR-BP). Methods: The Danish High-Risk and Resilience Study VIA7 is a multisite population-based cohort of 522 7-year-old children extracted from the Danish registries. The population-based controls were matched to the FHR-SZ children on age, sex, and municipality. The FHR-BP group followed same inclusion criteria. Data were collected blinded to familial high-risk status. Outcomes were social cognition, language, and social behavior. Results: The analysis included 202 FHR-SZ children (girls: 46%), 120 FHR-BP children (girls: 46.7%), and 200 controls (girls: 46.5%). FHR-SZ children displayed significant deficits in language (receptive: d = −0.27, P = .006; pragmatic: d = −0.51, P < .001), social responsiveness ( d = −0.54, P < .001), and adaptive social functioning ( d = −0.47, P < .001) compared to controls after Bonferroni correction. Compared to FHR-BP children, FHR-SZ children performed significantly poorer on adaptive social functioning ( d = −0.29, P = .007) after Bonferroni correction. FHR-BP and FHR-SZ children showed no significant social cognitive impairments compared to controls after Bonferroni correction. Conclusion: Language, social responsiveness, and adaptive social functioning deficits seem associated with FHR-SZ but not FHR-BP in this developmental phase. The pattern of results suggests adaptive social functioning impairments may not be shared between FHR-BP and FHR-SZ in this developmental phase and thus not reflective of the shared risk factors for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.