title: Childhood abuse and neglect may induce deficits in cognitive precursors of psychosis in high-risk children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Millions of children are born to parents affected by major psychoses. Cognitive dysfunctions seen in patients are already detectable in these children. In parallel, childhood maltreatment increases the risk of adult psychoses through unknown mechanisms. We investigated whether high-risk offspring exposed to abuse/neglect displayed more cognitive precursors of adult psychoses in childhood and adolescence than nonexposed offspring.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used a stepwise selection strategy from a 25-year follow-up of 48 densely affected kindreds including 1500 adults (405 patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder) to select high-risk offspring aged 6-22 years for inclusion in our study. All offspring were assessed for childhood trauma from direct interviews with the offspring, parents and relatives and from the review of lifetime medical records of parents and children and administered a neuropsychological battery including IQ and 4 of the most impaired neuropsychological domains in psychoses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our study included 66 high-risk offspring. Those who were exposed to abuse/neglect had significantly lower IQ (effect size [ES] = 0.61) than nonexposed offspring and displayed poorer cognitive performance in visual episodic memory (ES = 0.67) and in executive functions of initiation (ES = 1.01). Moreover, exposed offspring presented more combinations of cognitive deficits that were associated with lower Global Assessment of Functioning scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Exposure to abuse/neglect was not assessed in the control group, thus the study could not test whether the effect of childhood maltreatment occurred only in a high-risk setting and not in the general population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In high-risk youths, maltreatment in childhood/adolescence may negatively impact cognitive domains known to be impaired in adults with psychoses, suggesting an early mediating effect in the association between abuse/neglect and adult psychoses. This finding provides a target for future developmental and preventive research.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec, Québec, Canada (Berthelot, Paccalet, Gilbert, Moreau, Mérette, Gingras, Rouleau, Maziade); the Faculty of Nursing, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Canada (Berthelot); and the Departments of Psychiatry (Mérette, Gingras, Maziade) and Psychology (Rouleau), Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Berthelot
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec, Québec, Canada (Berthelot, Paccalet, Gilbert, Moreau, Mérette, Gingras, Rouleau, Maziade); the Faculty of Nursing, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Canada (Berthelot); and the Departments of Psychiatry (Mérette, Gingras, Maziade) and Psychology (Rouleau), Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Paccalet
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec, Québec, Canada (Berthelot, Paccalet, Gilbert, Moreau, Mérette, Gingras, Rouleau, Maziade); the Faculty of Nursing, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Canada (Berthelot); and the Departments of Psychiatry (Mérette, Gingras, Maziade) and Psychology (Rouleau), Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Elsa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gilbert
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec, Québec, Canada (Berthelot, Paccalet, Gilbert, Moreau, Mérette, Gingras, Rouleau, Maziade); the Faculty of Nursing, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Canada (Berthelot); and the Departments of Psychiatry (Mérette, Gingras, Maziade) and Psychology (Rouleau), Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Moreau
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec, Québec, Canada (Berthelot, Paccalet, Gilbert, Moreau, Mérette, Gingras, Rouleau, Maziade); the Faculty of Nursing, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Canada (Berthelot); and the Departments of Psychiatry (Mérette, Gingras, Maziade) and Psychology (Rouleau), Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mérette
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec, Québec, Canada (Berthelot, Paccalet, Gilbert, Moreau, Mérette, Gingras, Rouleau, Maziade); the Faculty of Nursing, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Canada (Berthelot); and the Departments of Psychiatry (Mérette, Gingras, Maziade) and Psychology (Rouleau), Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gingras
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec, Québec, Canada (Berthelot, Paccalet, Gilbert, Moreau, Mérette, Gingras, Rouleau, Maziade); the Faculty of Nursing, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Canada (Berthelot); and the Departments of Psychiatry (Mérette, Gingras, Maziade) and Psychology (Rouleau), Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Nancie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rouleau
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec, Québec, Canada (Berthelot, Paccalet, Gilbert, Moreau, Mérette, Gingras, Rouleau, Maziade); the Faculty of Nursing, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Canada (Berthelot); and the Departments of Psychiatry (Mérette, Gingras, Maziade) and Psychology (Rouleau), Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maziade
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000517:prevention & control; D003071:Cognition; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010290:Parents; D012306:Risk; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014888:Wechsler Scales; D055815:Young Adult