Home LiteratureArticle Details
PMID: 17127035 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Shared executive dysfunctions in unaffected relatives of patients with autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists ·Vol. 22 ·No. 1 ·2007-01-00 ·Pages 32-8

Delorme R, Goussé V, Roy I, Trandafir A, Mathieu F, Mouren-Siméoni MC, Betancur C, Leboyer M

Abstract

Executive dysfunctions have been studied as a potential endophenotype associated with the genetic basis of autism. Given that recent findings from clinical and molecular genetic studies suggest that autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) could share a common pattern of heritability, we assessed executive functions as a possible common cognitive endophenotype in unaffected family members of individuals with either autism or OCD. Five tests assessing executive functions (Tower of London, verbal fluency, design fluency, trail making and association fluency) were proposed to 58 unaffected first-degree relatives (parents and siblings) of probands with autism and 64 unaffected first-degree relatives of OCD patients. Results were compared with those of 47 healthy controls matched for age, sex, and level of education. In the Tower of London test, both groups of unaffected relatives showed significantly lower scores and longer response times compared with controls. No differences were observed between autism and OCD relatives and healthy controls in the four other tasks (verbal fluency, design fluency, trail making test and association fluency). Our findings show the existence of executive dysfunction in the unaffected first-degree relatives of probands with OCD, similar to those observed in the relatives of patients with autism. These results support and extend previous cognitive studies on probands indicating executive dysfunctions in autism and OCD. Planning and working memory processes could thus represent a common cognitive endophenotype in autism and OCD that could help in the identification of genes conferring vulnerability to these disorders.

MeSH Terms
Adolescent Adult Autistic Disorder/diagnosis,genetics,psychology Child Cognition Disorders/diagnosis,genetics,psychology Educational Status Family/psychology Female Humans Male Neuropsychological Tests/statistics & numerical data Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder/diagnosis,genetics,psychology Parents/psychology Psychiatric Status Rating Scales/statistics & numerical data Reference Values Siblings/psychology
Authors & Affiliations
8 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Delorme Richard
INSERM U513, Neurobiologie et Psychiatrie, Université Paris XII, Créteil, France. [email protected]
Goussé Véronique
Roy Isabelle
Trandafir Anca
Mathieu Flavie
Mouren-Siméoni Marie-Christine
Betancur Catalina
Leboyer Marion
References (53)
53 references, click to expand
  1. Case-control family study of lesser variant traits in autism.
    Neuropsychobiology. 2003;47(4):171-7 PMID: 12824738
  2. Searching for alternative phenotypes in psychiatric genetics.
    Methods Mol Med. 2003;77:145-61 PMID: 12298368
  3. Genetics of autism: characteristics of affected and unaffected children from 37 multiplex families.
    Am J Med Genet. 1994 Mar 15;54(1):27-35 PMID: 8178836
  4. Linkage analysis for autism in a subset families with obsessive-compulsive behaviors: evidence for an autism susceptibility gene on chromosome 1 and further support for susceptibility genes on chromosome 6 and 19.
    Mol Psychiatry. 2004 Feb;9(2):144-50 PMID: 14699429
  5. Retrospective assessment of prepubertal major depression with the Kiddie-SADS-e.
    J Am Acad Child Psychiatry. 1982 Jul;21(4):392-7 PMID: 7119313
  6. Obsessions and compulsions in Asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism.
    Br J Psychiatry. 2005 Jun;186:525-8 PMID: 15928364
  7. Frontal-striatal dysfunction during planning in obsessive-compulsive disorder.
    Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005 Mar;62(3):301-9 PMID: 15753243
  8. Neuropsychological performance in obsessive-compulsive disorder: a critical review.
    Biol Psychol. 2004 Feb;65(3):185-236 PMID: 14757309
  9. Lack of cognitive impairment in first-degree relatives of children with pervasive developmental disorders.
    J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1993 Nov;32(6):1264-73 PMID: 8282674
  10. Brief report: specific executive function profiles in three neurodevelopmental disorders.
    J Autism Dev Disord. 1999 Apr;29(2):171-7 PMID: 10382139
  11. Specific cognitive deficits in tests sensitive to frontal lobe dysfunction in obsessive-compulsive disorder.
    Psychol Med. 1996 Nov;26(6):1261-9 PMID: 8931172
  12. Cognitive deficits in obsessive-compulsive disorder on tests of frontal-striatal function.
    Biol Psychiatry. 1998 Mar 1;43(5):348-57 PMID: 9513750
  13. Neuropsychological deficits in obsessive-compulsive disorder: a comparison with unipolar depression, panic disorder, and normal controls.
    Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1998 May;55(5):415-23 PMID: 9596044
  14. Autism, affective and other psychiatric disorders: patterns of familial aggregation.
    Psychol Med. 1998 Mar;28(2):385-95 PMID: 9572095
  15. The genetics of autism.
    Pediatrics. 2004 May;113(5):e472-86 PMID: 15121991
  16. Executive functions in young children with autism.
    Child Dev. 1999 Jul-Aug;70(4):817-32 PMID: 10446722
  17. Obsessive-compulsive behaviors in parents of multiplex autism families.
    Psychiatry Res. 2003 Jan 25;117(1):11-6 PMID: 12581816
  18. Executive dysfunction in autism.
    Trends Cogn Sci. 2004 Jan;8(1):26-32 PMID: 14697400
  19. Correlation between intelligence test scores and executive function measures.
    Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2000 Jan;15(1):31-6 PMID: 14590565
  20. Executive function in parents of children with autism.
    Psychol Med. 1997 Jan;27(1):209-20 PMID: 9122301
  21. The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.): the development and validation of a structured diagnostic psychiatric interview for DSM-IV and ICD-10.
    J Clin Psychiatry. 1998;59 Suppl 20:22-33;quiz 34-57 PMID: 9881538
  22. The endophenotype concept in psychiatry: etymology and strategic intentions.
    Am J Psychiatry. 2003 Apr;160(4):636-45 PMID: 12668349
  23. Executive function and nonverbal memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder.
    Psychiatry Res. 2005 Jan 30;133(1):81-90 PMID: 15698680
  24. Symptom domains in autism and related conditions: evidence for familiality.
    Am J Med Genet. 2002 Jan 8;114(1):64-73 PMID: 11840508
  25. Striatal volume on magnetic resonance imaging and repetitive behaviors in autism.
    Biol Psychiatry. 2005 Aug 1;58(3):226-32 PMID: 15939406
  26. Design fluency: the invention of nonsense drawings after focal cortical lesions.
    Neuropsychologia. 1977;15(4-5):653-74 PMID: 896022
  27. Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised: a revised version of a diagnostic interview for caregivers of individuals with possible pervasive developmental disorders.
    J Autism Dev Disord. 1994 Oct;24(5):659-85 PMID: 7814313
  28. Can standard measures identify subclinical markers of autism?
    J Autism Dev Disord. 1993 Sep;23(3):429-41 PMID: 8226580
  29. Executive functions and developmental psychopathology.
    J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1996 Jan;37(1):51-87 PMID: 8655658
  30. Impaired attention as an endophenotype for molecular genetic studies of schizophrenia.
    Am J Med Genet. 2001 Jan 8;105(1):11-5 PMID: 11424979
  31. Obsessive-compulsive disorder phenotypes: implications for genetic studies.
    Mol Psychiatry. 2005 Mar;10(3):258-75 PMID: 15611786
  32. Toward a model of neuropsychological activity.
    Neuropsychol Rev. 1998 Dec;8(4):171-90 PMID: 9951709
  33. [Is age at onset associated with executive dysfunction in obsessive-compulsive disorder?].
    Encephale. 2005 Nov-Dec;31(6 Pt 1):666-71 PMID: 16462685
  34. Deficits in gain of smooth pursuit eye movements in schizophrenia and affective disorder patients and their unaffected relatives.
    Am J Psychiatry. 2003 Apr;160(4):696-702 PMID: 12668358
  35. Predictors of cognitive test patterns in autism families.
    J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1999 Oct;40(7):1117-28 PMID: 10576540
  36. Organizational strategies mediate nonverbal memory impairment in obsessive-compulsive disorder.
    Biol Psychiatry. 1999 Apr 1;45(7):905-16 PMID: 10202579
  37. A case-control family history study of autism.
    J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1994 Jul;35(5):877-900 PMID: 7962246
  38. Neuropsychological slowness in obsessive-compulsive patients. Is it confined to tests involving the fronto-subcortical systems?
    Br J Psychiatry. 1995 Sep;167(3):394-8 PMID: 7496651
  39. Performance on Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery subtests sensitive to frontal lobe function in people with autistic disorder: evidence from the Collaborative Programs of Excellence in Autism network.
    J Autism Dev Disord. 2004 Apr;34(2):139-50 PMID: 15162933
  40. Increased right caudate nucleus size in obsessive-compulsive disorder: detection with magnetic resonance imaging.
    Psychiatry Res. 1992 Aug;45(2):115-21 PMID: 1488469
  41. Diagnostic interview for genetic studies. Rationale, unique features, and training. NIMH Genetics Initiative.
    Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1994 Nov;51(11):849-59; discussion 863-4 PMID: 7944874
  42. Genes and the parsing of cognitive processes.
    Trends Cogn Sci. 2004 Jul;8(7):325-35 PMID: 15242692
  43. The identification of OCD-related subgroups based on comorbidity.
    Biol Psychiatry. 2003 May 15;53(10):914-20 PMID: 12742679
  44. The Tower of London spatial problem-solving task: enhancing clinical and research implementation.
    J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2002 Aug;24(5):586-604 PMID: 12187443
  45. The broad autism phenotype: findings from an epidemiological survey.
    Autism. 2004 Mar;8(1):21-37 PMID: 15070545
  46. Specific impairments of planning.
    Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1982 Jun 25;298(1089):199-209 PMID: 6125971
  47. Towards a cognitive phenotype for autism: increased prevalence of executive dysfunction and superior spatial span amongst siblings of children with autism.
    J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1999 Jul;40(5):705-18 PMID: 10433405
  48. Cognitive strategies and personality variables in adherence to exercise.
    Psychol Rep. 1991 Jun;68(3 Pt 2):1327-35 PMID: 1924630
  49. Discovering endophenotypes for major depression.
    Neuropsychopharmacology. 2004 Oct;29(10):1765-81 PMID: 15213704
  50. Neurocognitive function and joint attention ability in young children with autism spectrum disorder versus developmental delay.
    Child Dev. 2002 Mar-Apr;73(2):345-58 PMID: 11949896
  51. Relationships between verbal and nonverbal fluency measures: implications for assessment of executive functioning.
    Psychol Rep. 1997 Oct;81(2):443-8 PMID: 9354093
  52. Clustering and switching on verbal fluency: the effects of focal frontal- and temporal-lobe lesions.
    Neuropsychologia. 1998 Jun;36(6):499-504 PMID: 9705059
  53. Defining the broader phenotype of autism: genetic, brain, and behavioral perspectives.
    Dev Psychopathol. 2002 Summer;14(3):581-611 PMID: 12349875
Article Info
Journal
European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists
Abbr.
Eur Psychiatry
ISSN
0924-9338
DOI
10.1016/j.eurpsy.2006.05.002
Email
[email protected]
Published
2007-01-00
Epub
2006-00-28
Pages
32-8
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
9111820
PMCID
PMC1894853
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1016/j.eurpsy.2006.05.002 PMC Full Text View journal details
Analysis Services
Analysis Services

Contact

No. 2 Wenbo Road, Zhangqiu District, Jinan, Shandong

Qilu Normal University · Genelibs Bioinformatics Lab

750 Shunhua Rd, Jinan

2F, Bldg F, University Science Park

Tel: 0531-88819269

WeChat Official Account

Follow our WeChat subscription account for real-time updates and the latest in medical and biological research.


Business Email

E-mail: [email protected]

Copyright © 2026.Genelibs Jinan Honghui Biotechnology Co., Ltd. 鲁ICP备20007159号-2