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Associations between schizophrenia polygenic risk and apathy in schizophrenia spectrum disorders and healthy controls
Author(s) -
Lyngstad S. H.,
Bettella F.,
Aminoff S. R.,
Athanasiu L.,
Andreassen O. A.,
Færden A.,
Melle I.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/acps.13167
Subject(s) - apathy , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , psychiatry , clinical psychology , psychosis , psychology , medicine , cognition
Objective Apathy is a central predictor of a poor functional outcome in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia polygenic risk scores (PRSs) are used to detect genetic associations to key clinical phenotypes in schizophrenia. We explored the associations between schizophrenia PRS and apathy levels in schizophrenia spectrum disorders ( n = 281) and matched healthy controls ( n = 298), and further how schizophrenia PRS contributed in predicting apathy when added to premorbid and clinical factors in the patient sample. Method Schizophrenia PRSs were computed for each participant. Apathy was assessed with the Apathy Evaluation Scale. Bivariate correlation analyses were used to investigate associations between schizophrenia PRS and apathy, and between apathy and premorbid and clinical factors. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses were employed to evaluate the contributions of clinical variables and schizophrenia PRS to apathy levels. Results We found no significant associations between schizophrenia PRS and apathy in patients and healthy controls. Several premorbid and clinical characteristics significantly predicted apathy in patients, but schizophrenia PRS did not. Conclusion Since the PRSs are based on common genetic variants, our results do not preclude associations to other types of genetic factors. The results could also indicate that environmentally based biological or psychological factors contribute to apathy levels in schizophrenia.