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Examining the association between childhood autistic traits and adolescent hypomania: a longitudinal twin study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2021

Mark J. Taylor ,
Angelica Ronald ,
Joanna Martin ,
Sebastian Lundström ,
Georgina M. Hosang  and
Paul Lichtenstein
Mark J. Taylor*
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Angelica Ronald
Affiliation:
Genes Environment Lifespan Laboratory, Department of Psychological Science, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, University of London, Birkbeck, UK
Joanna Martin
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
Sebastian Lundström
Affiliation:
Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden Centre for Ethics, Law and Mental Health, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
Georgina M. Hosang
Affiliation:
Centre for Psychiatry, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary, University of London, London, UK
Paul Lichtenstein
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
*
Author for correspondence: Mark J. Taylor, E-mail: mark.taylor@ki.se
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Abstract

Background

There is evidence that autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) co-occur with bipolar disorder (BD) relatively frequently. Individuals with BD often report symptoms of mania and hypomania during adolescence, prior to the age of onset for BD. It is unknown whether these symptoms are associated with ASDs. We examined whether diagnoses of ASDs and autistic traits were associated with hypomania in a large, population-based Swedish twin sample.

Methods

Parental structured interviews assessed autistic traits, and were used to assign screening diagnoses of ASDs, when twins were aged 9 or 12 (N = 13 533 pairs). Parents then completed questionnaires assessing hypomania when the twins were aged 15 and 18 (N = 3852 pairs at age 15, and 3013 pairs at age 18). After investigating the phenotypic associations between these measures, we used the classical twin design to test whether genetic and environmental influences on autistic traits influence variation in adolescent hypomania.

Results

Autistic traits and ASD diagnoses in childhood were associated with elevated scores on the measures of adolescent hypomania. Twin analyses indicated that 6–9% of the variance in hypomania was explained by genetic influences that were shared with autistic traits in childhood. When repeating these analyses for specific autistic trait domains, we found a stronger association between social interaction difficulties and hypomania than for other autistic trait domains.

Conclusions

These results indicate a genetic link between autistic traits and hypomania in adolescence. This adds to the growing evidence base of genetic factors associated with ASDs showing links with psychiatric outcomes across childhood and into adulthood.

Keywords

autismhypomaniabipolar disordertwin studygenetics
Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 52 , Issue 15 , November 2022 , pp. 3606 - 3615
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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