A twin study of autism symptoms in Sweden
A twin study of autism symptoms in Sweden
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DOI：
10.1038/mp.2010.82
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发表时间：
2011-10-01
影响因子：
11
通讯作者：
Lichtenstein, P.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ronald, A.;Larsson, H.;Lichtenstein, P.
本研究的目的是在对一般人群样本进行评估时，从经验上确定自闭症症状的潜在因素——社交障碍、沟通障碍、受限的重复行为和兴趣。它还调查了这些自闭症症状在多大程度上是由相同或不同的遗传和环境影响引起的。通过对父母的访谈，在一个以人群为基础的双胞胎队列中评估了12000名（9岁和12岁）儿童的自闭症症状。进行了验证性因子分析、主成分分析和多元结构方程模型拟合。提出了一个多因素解决方案，几乎所有的分析都指向一个三因素模型，适用于男孩和女孩以及两个年龄段。一个共同途径双胞胎模型最符合数据，它表明在不同的自闭症维度中存在一些潜在的共同遗传和环境影响，但对每种症状类型也有显著的特定遗传影响。这些结果表明，当在普通人群中进行评估时，自闭症三联征由三个部分独立的维度组成，这些不同的自闭症症状在相当程度上有部分独立的遗传影响。这些发现或许可以解释为什么有大量儿童不符合目前的自闭症标准，但却表现出一些自闭症症状。分子遗传学研究可能受益于采取特定症状的方法来寻找与自闭症相关的基因。分子精神病学（2011）16,1039-1047；doi: 10.1038 / mp.2010.82;2010年7月20日在线发布
This study aimed to identify empirically the number of factors underlying autism symptoms-social impairments, communication impairments, and restricted repetitive behaviors and interests-when assessed in a general population sample. It also investigated to what extent these autism symptoms are caused by the same or different genetic and environmental influences. Autistic symptoms were assessed in a population-based twin cohort of > 12 000 (9- and 12-year-old) children by parental interviews. Confirmatory factor analyses, principal component analyses and multivariate structural equation model fitting were carried out. A multiple factor solution was suggested, with nearly all analyses pointing to a three-factor model for both boys and girls and at both ages. A common pathway twin model fit the data best, which showed that there were some underlying common genetic and environmental influences across the different autism dimensions, but also significant specific genetic effects on each symptom type. These results suggest that the autism triad consists of three partly independent dimensions when assessed in the general population, and that these different autism symptoms, to a considerable extent, have partly separate genetic influences. These findings may explain the large number of children who do not meet current criteria for autism but who show some autism symptoms. Molecular genetic research may benefit from taking a symptom-specific approach to finding genes associated with autism. Molecular Psychiatry (2011) 16, 1039-1047; doi: 10.1038/mp.2010.82; published online 20 July 2010