Predicting Psychosis Risk? Childhood Attention and Genetic Makeup May Play a Role, Study Suggests - Video

Researchers at UCLA Health have found that a person's risk of developing psychotic-like experiences may be influenced by both childhood attention problems and their genetic makeup. The findings, published in Nature Mental Health, build upon a long-studied association between childhood attention problems and the likelihood of later developing schizophrenia. Using data from about 10,000 children over six years, UCLA researchers led by Dr. Carrie Bearden sought to determine how attentional variability influenced the risk of broader psychotic-like symptoms as children grow into adolescence.

Specifically, the team looked at how the youths' risk for psychotic-like experiences varied based on their attention span and genetic variants that may predispose them to different neuropsychiatric conditions.

The researchers found:

A higher genetic risk for a broad set of neuropsychiatric and cognitive disorders was associated with greater severity of psychotic-like experiences and greater attention issues.

Additionally, attention span variability partially acted as an intermediate between the relationships between genetic risk for neuropsychiatric disorders and the expression of psychotic-like symptoms. Attention span issues explained 4-16% of these associations.

While the majority of youth who experience psychotic-like symptoms will not go on to develop schizophrenia, these events do increase the likelihood for future psychotic disorders and mental illness. The study used cognitive, brain and genetic data from more than 10,000 participants in the ongoing Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. The study, led by a national consortium of research institutes including UCLA Health, is examining brain development in nearly 12,000 youth starting at age 9 and followed over the next decade into their early adulthood.

Reference: https://www.uclahealth.org/news/release/childhood-attention-issues-and-genetic-factors-may-predict