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Emotional cognition subgroups in unaffected first-degree relatives of patients with mood disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2021

Hanne Lie Kjærstad Open the ORCID record for Hanne Lie Kjærstad [Opens in a new window] ,
Cristina Varo Open the ORCID record for Cristina Varo [Opens in a new window] ,
Iselin Meluken Open the ORCID record for Iselin Meluken [Opens in a new window] ,
Eduard Vieta Open the ORCID record for Eduard Vieta [Opens in a new window] ,
Maj Vinberg Open the ORCID record for Maj Vinberg [Opens in a new window] ,
Lars Vedel Kessing Open the ORCID record for Lars Vedel Kessing [Opens in a new window]  and
Kamilla Woznica Miskowiak Open the ORCID record for Kamilla Woznica Miskowiak [Opens in a new window]
Hanne Lie Kjærstad
Affiliation:
Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen Affective Disorder Research Centre (CADIC), Psychiatric Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
Cristina Varo
Affiliation:
Bipolar and Depressive Disorders Unit, Hospital Clinic, Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, IDIBAPS, CIBERSAM, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Iselin Meluken
Affiliation:
Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen Affective Disorder Research Centre (CADIC), Psychiatric Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
Eduard Vieta
Affiliation:
Bipolar and Depressive Disorders Unit, Hospital Clinic, Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, IDIBAPS, CIBERSAM, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Maj Vinberg
Affiliation:
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Psychiatric Centre North Zealand, Hillerød, Denmark
Lars Vedel Kessing
Affiliation:
Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen Affective Disorder Research Centre (CADIC), Psychiatric Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Kamilla Woznica Miskowiak*
Affiliation:
Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen Affective Disorder Research Centre (CADIC), Psychiatric Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
*
Author for correspondence: Kamilla Woznica Miskowiak, E-mail: kamilla.woznica.miskowiak@regionh.dk
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Abstract

Background

Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) or bipolar disorder (BD) exhibit difficulties with emotional cognition even during remission. There is evidence for aberrant emotional cognition in unaffected relatives of patients with these mood disorders, but studies are conflicting. We aimed to investigate whether emotional cognition in unaffected first-degree relatives of patients with mood disorders is characterised by heterogeneity using a data-driven approach.

Methods

Data from 94 unaffected relatives (33 of MDD patients; 61 of BD patients) and 203 healthy controls were pooled from two cohort studies. Emotional cognition was assessed with the Social Scenarios Test, Facial Expression Recognition Test and Faces Dot-Probe Test. Hierarchical cluster analysis was conducted using emotional cognition data from the 94 unaffected relatives. The resulting emotional cognition clusters and controls were compared for emotional and non-emotional cognition, demographic characteristics and functioning.

Results

Two distinct clusters of unaffected relatives were identified: a relatively ‘emotionally preserved’ cluster (55%; 40% relatives of MDD probands) and an ‘emotionally blunted’ cluster (45%; 29% relatives of MDD probands). ‘Emotionally blunted’ relatives presented with poorer neurocognitive performance (global cognition p = 0.010), heightened subsyndromal mania symptoms (p = 0.004), lower years of education (p = 0.004) and difficulties with interpersonal functioning (p = 0.005) than controls, whereas ‘emotionally preserved’ relatives were comparable to controls on these measures.

Conclusions

Our findings show discrete emotional cognition profiles that occur across healthy first-degree relatives of patients with MDD and BD. These emotional cognition clusters may provide insight into emotional cognitive markers of genetically distinct subgroups of individuals at familial risk of mood disorders.

Keywords

Cluster-analysisemotional cognitionemotional processingemotional regulationendophenotypemood disordersrelativesresiliencerisk
Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 53 , Issue 6 , April 2023 , pp. 2328 - 2338
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

*

Contributed equally as first authors.

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