• Chunsheng Xu, Jianping Sun, Fuling Ji, Xiaocao Tian, Haiping Duan, Yaoming Zhai, Shaojie Wang, Zengchang Pang, Dongfeng Zhang, Zhongtang Zhao, Shuxia Li, Jacob V B Hjelmborg, Kaare Christensen, and Qihua Tan.
• Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics,School of Public Health,Shandong University,Jinan,Shandong,China.
• Twin Res Hum Genet. 2015 Feb 1; 18 (1): 79-85.

AbstractThe genetic influences on aging-related phenotypes, including cognition and depression, have been well confirmed in the Western populations. We performed the first twin-based analysis on cognitive performance, memory and depression status in middle-aged and elderly Chinese twins, representing the world's largest and most rapidly aging population. The sample consisted of 384 twin pairs with a median age of 50 years. Cognitive function was measured using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scale; memory was assessed using the revised Wechsler Adult Intelligence scale; depression symptomatology was evaluated by the self-reported 30-item Geriatric Depression (GDS-30)scale. Both univariate and multivariate twin models were fitted to the three phenotypes with full and nested models and compared to select the best fitting models. Univariate analysis showed moderate-to-high genetic influences with heritability 0.44 for cognition and 0.56 for memory. Multivariate analysis by the reduced Cholesky model estimated significant genetic (rG = 0.69) and unique environmental (rE = 0.25) correlation between cognitive ability and memory. The model also estimated weak but significant inverse genetic correlation for depression with cognition (-0.31) and memory (-0.28). No significant unique environmental correlation was found for depression with other two phenotypes. In conclusion, there can be a common genetic architecture for cognitive ability and memory that weakly correlates with depression symptomatology, but in the opposite direction.

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