Abstract
We sought to identify cognitive phenotypes for family/genetic studies of successful cognitive aging (SCA; maintaining intact cognitive functioning while living to late old age). We administered a battery of neuropsychological tests to nondemented nonagenarians (n = 65; mean age = 93.4 ± 3.0) and their offspring (n = 188; mean age = 66.4 ± 5.0) from the Central Valley of Costa Rica. After covarying for age, gender, and years of education, as necessary, heritability was calculated for cognitive functions at three pre-defined levels of complexity: specific neuropsychological functions (e.g., delayed recall, sequencing), three higher level cognitive domains (memory, executive functions, attention), and an overall neuropsychological summary. The highest heritability was for delayed recall (h 2 = 0.74, se = 0.14, p < 0.0001) but significant heritabilities involving memory were also observed for immediate recall (h 2 = 0.50), memory as a cognitive domain (h 2 = 0.53), and the overall neuropsychological summary (h 2 = 0.42). Heritabilities for sequencing (h 2 = 0.42), fluency (h 2 = 0.39), abstraction (h 2 = 0.36), and the executive functions cognitive domain (h 2 = 0.35) were also significant. In contrast, the attention domain and memory recognition were not significantly heritable in these families. Among the heritable specific cognitive functions, a strong pleiotropic effect (i.e., evidence that these may be influenced by the same gene or set of genes) for delayed and immediate recall was identified (bivariate statistic = 0.934, p < 0.0001) and more modest but significant effects were found for four additional bivariate relationships. The results support the heritability of good cognitive function in old age and the utilization of several levels of phenotypes, and they suggest that several measures involving memory may be especially useful for family/genetic studies of SCA.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 897-907 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Journal of Alzheimer's Disease |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2011 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Fingerprint
Keywords
- Family studies
- hispanic population
- neuropsychological phenotype
- oldest-old
- successful cognitive aging
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Geriatrics and Gerontology
- Clinical Psychology
Cite this
Heritability of cognitive functions in families of successful cognitive aging probands from the central valley of Costa Rica. / Greenwood, Tiffany A.; Beeri, Michal S.; Schmeidler, James; Valerio, Daniel; Raventós, Henriette; Mora-Villalobos, Lara; Camacho, Karla; Carrión-Baralt, José R.; Angelo, Gary; Almasy, Laura; Sano, Mary; Silverman, Jeremy M.
In: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, Vol. 27, No. 4, 2011, p. 897-907.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Heritability of cognitive functions in families of successful cognitive aging probands from the central valley of Costa Rica
AU - Greenwood, Tiffany A.
AU - Beeri, Michal S.
AU - Schmeidler, James
AU - Valerio, Daniel
AU - Raventós, Henriette
AU - Mora-Villalobos, Lara
AU - Camacho, Karla
AU - Carrión-Baralt, José R.
AU - Angelo, Gary
AU - Almasy, Laura
AU - Sano, Mary
AU - Silverman, Jeremy M.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - We sought to identify cognitive phenotypes for family/genetic studies of successful cognitive aging (SCA; maintaining intact cognitive functioning while living to late old age). We administered a battery of neuropsychological tests to nondemented nonagenarians (n = 65; mean age = 93.4 ± 3.0) and their offspring (n = 188; mean age = 66.4 ± 5.0) from the Central Valley of Costa Rica. After covarying for age, gender, and years of education, as necessary, heritability was calculated for cognitive functions at three pre-defined levels of complexity: specific neuropsychological functions (e.g., delayed recall, sequencing), three higher level cognitive domains (memory, executive functions, attention), and an overall neuropsychological summary. The highest heritability was for delayed recall (h 2 = 0.74, se = 0.14, p < 0.0001) but significant heritabilities involving memory were also observed for immediate recall (h 2 = 0.50), memory as a cognitive domain (h 2 = 0.53), and the overall neuropsychological summary (h 2 = 0.42). Heritabilities for sequencing (h 2 = 0.42), fluency (h 2 = 0.39), abstraction (h 2 = 0.36), and the executive functions cognitive domain (h 2 = 0.35) were also significant. In contrast, the attention domain and memory recognition were not significantly heritable in these families. Among the heritable specific cognitive functions, a strong pleiotropic effect (i.e., evidence that these may be influenced by the same gene or set of genes) for delayed and immediate recall was identified (bivariate statistic = 0.934, p < 0.0001) and more modest but significant effects were found for four additional bivariate relationships. The results support the heritability of good cognitive function in old age and the utilization of several levels of phenotypes, and they suggest that several measures involving memory may be especially useful for family/genetic studies of SCA.
AB - We sought to identify cognitive phenotypes for family/genetic studies of successful cognitive aging (SCA; maintaining intact cognitive functioning while living to late old age). We administered a battery of neuropsychological tests to nondemented nonagenarians (n = 65; mean age = 93.4 ± 3.0) and their offspring (n = 188; mean age = 66.4 ± 5.0) from the Central Valley of Costa Rica. After covarying for age, gender, and years of education, as necessary, heritability was calculated for cognitive functions at three pre-defined levels of complexity: specific neuropsychological functions (e.g., delayed recall, sequencing), three higher level cognitive domains (memory, executive functions, attention), and an overall neuropsychological summary. The highest heritability was for delayed recall (h 2 = 0.74, se = 0.14, p < 0.0001) but significant heritabilities involving memory were also observed for immediate recall (h 2 = 0.50), memory as a cognitive domain (h 2 = 0.53), and the overall neuropsychological summary (h 2 = 0.42). Heritabilities for sequencing (h 2 = 0.42), fluency (h 2 = 0.39), abstraction (h 2 = 0.36), and the executive functions cognitive domain (h 2 = 0.35) were also significant. In contrast, the attention domain and memory recognition were not significantly heritable in these families. Among the heritable specific cognitive functions, a strong pleiotropic effect (i.e., evidence that these may be influenced by the same gene or set of genes) for delayed and immediate recall was identified (bivariate statistic = 0.934, p < 0.0001) and more modest but significant effects were found for four additional bivariate relationships. The results support the heritability of good cognitive function in old age and the utilization of several levels of phenotypes, and they suggest that several measures involving memory may be especially useful for family/genetic studies of SCA.
KW - Family studies
KW - hispanic population
KW - neuropsychological phenotype
KW - oldest-old
KW - successful cognitive aging
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84455162525&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84455162525&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3233/JAD-2011-110782
DO - 10.3233/JAD-2011-110782
M3 - Article
C2 - 21908911
AN - SCOPUS:84455162525
VL - 27
SP - 897
EP - 907
JO - Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
JF - Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
SN - 1387-2877
IS - 4
ER -