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Genetic and Environmental Influences on Semantic Verbal Fluency Across Midlife and Later Life

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Abstract

Despite the relevance of semantic fluency measures to risk for dementia and psychiatric disorders, little is known about their genetic and environmental architecture in mid-to-late life. Participants represent 21,684 middle-aged and older adult twins (M = 60.84 years, SD = 11.21; Range 40-89) from six studies from three countries participating in the Interplay of Genes and Environment across Multiple Studies (IGEMS) consortium. All completed the same measure of semantic fluency (naming animals in 60 seconds). Results revealed small-to-moderate phenotypic associations with age and education, with education more strongly and positively associated with fluency performance in females than males. Heritability and environmental influences did not vary by age. Environmental variance was smaller with higher levels of education, but this effect was observed only in males. This is the largest study to examine the genetic and environmental architecture of semantic fluency, and the first to demonstrate that environmental influences vary based on levels of education.

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Funding

IGEMS is supported by the National Institutes of Health Grants No. R01 AG037985, R56 AG037985, R01 AG059329, R01 AG060470, RF1 AG058068. The Danish Twin Registry has been supported by grants from The National Program for Research Infrastructure 2007 from the Danish Agency for Science and Innovation, the Velux Foundation and the US National Institute of Health (P01 AG08761). VETSA was supported by National Institute of Health grants NIA R01 AG050595, R01 AG022381, and R01 AG022982. The Cooperative Studies Program of the Office of Research & Development of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has provided financial support for the development and maintenance of the Vietnam Era Twin (VET) Registry. The MIDUS study was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Midlife Development and by National Institute on Aging Grant AG20166. We acknowledge the contribution of the OATS research team (https://cheba.unsw.edu.au/project/older-australian-twins-study) to this study. The OATS study has been funded by a National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Australian Research Council (ARC) Strategic Award Grant of the Ageing Well, Ageing Productively Program (ID No. 401162) and NHMRC Project Grants (ID 1045325 and 1085606). OATS participant recruitment was facilitated through Twins Research Australia, a national resource in part supported by a Centre for Research Excellence Grant (ID: 1079102), from the National Health and Medical Research Council. We thank the participants for their time and generosity in contributing to this research. The content of this manuscript is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIA/NIH, or the VA. The first author was also supported by NIH Grants R03 AG065643, R01 DC016977, and DP2 HD098859.

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DG conceived the study, conducted the analyses, and drafted the manuscript with assistance from all other authors. All authors assisted in revising the manuscript and approved of the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Daniel E. Gustavson.

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Conflict of interest

Daniel E. Gustavson, Matthew S. Panizzon, William S. Kremen, Chandra A. Reynolds, Shandell Pahlen, Marianne Nygaard, Mette Wod, Vibeke S. Catts, Teresa Lee, Margaret Gatz, and Carol E. Franz for the IGEMS Consortium report no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All studies included within IGEMS received approval from relevant Institutional Review Boards at participating institutions. Analyses of de-identified data presented here was approved by Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

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All subjects in participating studies completed informed consent.

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No data from specific individuals are presented here.

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Edited by Eric Turkheimer.

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Gustavson, D.E., Panizzon, M.S., Kremen, W.S. et al. Genetic and Environmental Influences on Semantic Verbal Fluency Across Midlife and Later Life. Behav Genet 51, 99–109 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-021-10048-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-021-10048-w

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