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Is aberrant affective cognition an endophenotype for affective disorders? – A monozygotic twin study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2018

I. Meluken
Affiliation:
Copenhagen Affective Disorder Research Centre (CADIC), Psychiatric Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
N. M. Ottesen
Affiliation:
Copenhagen Affective Disorder Research Centre (CADIC), Psychiatric Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
C. J. Harmer
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, UK
T. Scheike
Affiliation:
Section of Biostatistics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
L. V. Kessing
Affiliation:
Copenhagen Affective Disorder Research Centre (CADIC), Psychiatric Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
M. Vinberg
Affiliation:
Copenhagen Affective Disorder Research Centre (CADIC), Psychiatric Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
K. W. Miskowiak*
Affiliation:
Copenhagen Affective Disorder Research Centre (CADIC), Psychiatric Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
*
Author for correspondence: K. W. Miskowiak, E-mail: kamilla@miskowiak.dk

Abstract

Background

Identification of endophenotypes can improve prevention, detection and development of new treatments. We therefore investigated whether aberrant affective cognition constitutes an endophenotype for affective disorders by being present in monozygotic (MZ) twins with unipolar or bipolar disorder in partial remission (i.e. affected) and their unaffected co-twins (i.e. high-risk) relative to twins with no family history of affective disorder (i.e. low-risk).

Methods

We conducted an assessor blind cross-sectional study from 2014 to 2017 of MZ twins using Danish population-based registers in recruitment. Twins attended one test session involving neurocognitive testing, clinical ratings and questionnaires. Main outcomes were attention to and recognition of emotional facial expressions, the memory of emotional self-referential words, emotion regulation and coping strategies.

Results

Participants were 103 affected, 44 high-risk and 36 low-risk MZ twins. Groups were demographically well-balanced and showed comparable non-affective cognitive performance. We observed no aberrant affective cognition in affected and high-risk relative to low-risk twins. However, high-risk twins displayed attentional avoidance of emotional faces (ps ⩽ 0.009) and more use of task-oriented coping strategies (p = 0.01) compared with affected twins. In contrast did affected twins show more emotion-oriented coping than high- and low-risk twins (ps ⩽ 0.004).

Conclusions

Our findings provide no support of aberrant affective cognition as an endophenotype for affective disorders. High-risk twins’ attentional avoidance of emotional faces and greater use of task-oriented coping strategies may reflect compensatory mechanisms.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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