Examining the association between exposome score for schizophrenia and cognition in schizophrenia, siblings, and healthy controls: Results from the EUGEI study
Laura Fusar‐Poli, Thanavadee Prachason, Gamze Erzın, Lotta-Katrin Pries, Natascia Brondino, Pierluigi Politi, Philippe Delespaul, Günter Kenis, Jurjen J. Luykx, Bochao Lin, Alexander Richards, Berna Binnur Akdede, Tolga Binbay, Vesile Altınyazar, Berna Yalınçetin, Güvem Gümüş‐Akay, Burçin Cihan, Haldun Soygür, Halis Ulaş, Eylem Şahin Cankurtaran, Semra Ulusoy Kaymak, Marina Mihaljević, Sanja Andrić Petrović, Tijana Mirjanić, Miquel Bernardo, Gisela Mezquida, Sílvia Amoretti, Julio Bobes, Pilar A. Sáiz, María Paz García‐Portilla, Julio Sanjuán, María J. Escartí, José Luis Santos, Estela Jiménez‐López, Manuel Arrojo, Ãngel Carracedo, Gonzalo López, Javier González‐Peñas, Mara Parellada, Nadja P. Marić, Cem Atbaşoğlu, Alp Üçok, Köksal Alptekın, Meram Can Saka, Celso Arango, Michael O’Donovan, Jim van Os, Bart P. F. Rutten, Sinan Gülöksüz
Abstract
BACKGROUND: People with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) frequently present cognitive impairments. Here, we investigated whether the exposome score for schizophrenia (ES-SCZ) - a cumulative environmental exposure score - was associated with impairments of neurocognition, social cognition, and perception in patients with SSD, their unaffected siblings, and healthy controls. METHODS: This cross-sectional sample consisted of 1200 patients, 1371 siblings, and 1564 healthy controls. Neurocognition, social cognition, and perception were assesed using a short version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III), the Degraded Facial Affect Recognition Task (DFAR), and the Benton Facial Recognition Test (BFR), respectively. Regression models were used to analyze the association between ES-SCZ and cognitive domains in each group. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant associations between ES-SCZ and cognitive domains in SSD. ES-SCZ was negatively associated with T-score of cognition in siblings (B=-0.40, 95% CI -0.76 to -0.03) and healthy controls (B=-0.63, 95% CI -1.06 to -0.21). Additionally, ES-SCZ was positively associated with DFAR-total in siblings (B=0.83, 95% CI 0.26 to 1.40). Sensitivity analyses excluding cannabis use history from ES-SCZ largely confirmed the main findings. CONCLUSIONS: Longitudinal cohorts may elucidate how environmental exposures influence the onset and course of cognitive impairments in trans-syndromic psychosis spectrum.