TY - JOUR
T1 - Genome-wide analyses of vocabulary size in infancy and toddlerhood
T2 - associations with ADHD, literacy and cognition-related traits
AU - EAGLE working group
AU - Verhoef, Ellen
AU - Allegrini, Andrea G
AU - Jansen, Philip R
AU - Lange, Katherine
AU - Wang, Carol A
AU - Morgan, Angela T
AU - Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S
AU - Symeonides, Christos
AU - Eising, Else
AU - Franken, Marie-Christine
AU - Hypponen, Elina
AU - Mansell, Toby
AU - Olislagers, Mitchell
AU - Omerovic, Emina
AU - Rimfeld, Kaili
AU - Schlag, Fenja
AU - Selzam, Saskia
AU - Shapland, Chin Yang
AU - Tiemeier, Henning
AU - Whitehouse, Andrew J O
AU - Saffery, Richard
AU - Bønnelykke, Klaus
AU - Reilly, Sheena
AU - Pennell, Craig E
AU - Wake, Melissa
AU - Cecil, Charlotte A M
AU - Plomin, Robert
AU - Fisher, Simon E
AU - St Pourcain, Beate
AU - Andreassen, Ole A
AU - Bartels, Meike
AU - Boomsma, Dorret
AU - Dale, Philip S
AU - Ehli, Erik
AU - Fernandez-Orth, Dietmar
AU - Guxens, Mònica
AU - Hakulinen, Christian
AU - Harris, Kathleen Mullan
AU - Haworth, Simon
AU - de Hoyos, Lucía
AU - Jaddoe, Vincent
AU - Keltikangas-Järvinen, Liisa
AU - Lehtimäki, Terho
AU - Middeldorp, Christel
AU - Min, Josine L
AU - Mishra, Pashupati P
AU - Njølstad, Pål Rasmus
AU - Sunyer, Jordi
AU - Tate, Ashley E
AU - Timpson, Nicholas
N1 - Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2023/12/7
Y1 - 2023/12/7
N2 - BACKGROUND: The number of words children produce (expressive vocabulary) and understand (receptive vocabulary) changes rapidly during early development, partially due to genetic factors. Here, we performed a meta-genome-wide association study of vocabulary acquisition and investigated polygenic overlap with literacy, cognition, developmental phenotypes and neurodevelopmental conditions, including Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).METHODS: We studied 37,913 parent-reported vocabulary size measures (English, Dutch, Danish) for 17,298 European descent children. Meta-analyses were performed for early-phase expressive (infancy, 15-18 months), late-phase expressive (toddlerhood, 24-38 months) and late-phase receptive (toddlerhood, 24-38 months) vocabulary. Subsequently, we estimated Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism heritability (SNP-h2) and genetic correlations (rg), and modelled underlying factor structures with multivariate models.RESULTS: Early-life vocabulary size was modestly heritable (SNP-h2: 0.08(SE=0.01) to 0.24(SE=0.03)). Genetic overlap between infant expressive and toddler receptive vocabulary was negligible (rg=0.07(SE=0.10)), although each measure was moderately related to toddler expressive vocabulary (rg=0.69(SE=0.14) and rg=0.67(SE=0.16), respectively), suggesting a multi-factorial genetic architecture. Both infant and toddler expressive vocabulary were genetically linked to literacy (e.g. spelling: rg=0.58(SE=0.20) and rg=0.79(SE=0.25), respectively), underlining genetic similarity. However, genetic association of early-life vocabulary with educational attainment and intelligence emerged in toddlerhood only (e.g. receptive vocabulary and intelligence: rg=0.36(SE=0.12)). Increased ADHD risk was genetically associated with larger infant expressive vocabulary (rg=0.23(SE=0.08)). Multivariate genetic models in the ALSPAC cohort confirmed this finding for ADHD symptoms (rg=0.54(SE=0.26)), but showed that the association effect reversed for toddler receptive vocabulary (rg=-0.74(SE=0.23)), highlighting developmental heterogeneity.CONCLUSIONS: The genetic architecture of early-life vocabulary changes during development, shaping polygenic association patterns with later-life ADHD, literacy and cognition-related traits.
AB - BACKGROUND: The number of words children produce (expressive vocabulary) and understand (receptive vocabulary) changes rapidly during early development, partially due to genetic factors. Here, we performed a meta-genome-wide association study of vocabulary acquisition and investigated polygenic overlap with literacy, cognition, developmental phenotypes and neurodevelopmental conditions, including Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).METHODS: We studied 37,913 parent-reported vocabulary size measures (English, Dutch, Danish) for 17,298 European descent children. Meta-analyses were performed for early-phase expressive (infancy, 15-18 months), late-phase expressive (toddlerhood, 24-38 months) and late-phase receptive (toddlerhood, 24-38 months) vocabulary. Subsequently, we estimated Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism heritability (SNP-h2) and genetic correlations (rg), and modelled underlying factor structures with multivariate models.RESULTS: Early-life vocabulary size was modestly heritable (SNP-h2: 0.08(SE=0.01) to 0.24(SE=0.03)). Genetic overlap between infant expressive and toddler receptive vocabulary was negligible (rg=0.07(SE=0.10)), although each measure was moderately related to toddler expressive vocabulary (rg=0.69(SE=0.14) and rg=0.67(SE=0.16), respectively), suggesting a multi-factorial genetic architecture. Both infant and toddler expressive vocabulary were genetically linked to literacy (e.g. spelling: rg=0.58(SE=0.20) and rg=0.79(SE=0.25), respectively), underlining genetic similarity. However, genetic association of early-life vocabulary with educational attainment and intelligence emerged in toddlerhood only (e.g. receptive vocabulary and intelligence: rg=0.36(SE=0.12)). Increased ADHD risk was genetically associated with larger infant expressive vocabulary (rg=0.23(SE=0.08)). Multivariate genetic models in the ALSPAC cohort confirmed this finding for ADHD symptoms (rg=0.54(SE=0.26)), but showed that the association effect reversed for toddler receptive vocabulary (rg=-0.74(SE=0.23)), highlighting developmental heterogeneity.CONCLUSIONS: The genetic architecture of early-life vocabulary changes during development, shaping polygenic association patterns with later-life ADHD, literacy and cognition-related traits.
U2 - 10.1016/j.biopsych.2023.11.025
DO - 10.1016/j.biopsych.2023.11.025
M3 - Article
C2 - 38070845
SN - 0006-3223
JO - Biological Psychiatry
JF - Biological Psychiatry
ER -