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Genetic contributions to stability and change in intelligence from childhood to old age

Nature volume 482, pages 212–215 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Understanding the determinants of healthy mental ageing is a priority for society today1,2. So far, we know that intelligence differences show high stability from childhood to old age3,4 and there are estimates of the genetic contribution to intelligence at different ages5,6. However, attempts to discover whether genetic causes contribute to differences in cognitive ageing have been relatively uninformative7,8,9,10. Here we provide an estimate of the genetic and environmental contributions to stability and change in intelligence across most of the human lifetime. We used genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data from 1,940 unrelated individuals whose intelligence was measured in childhood (age 11 years) and again in old age (age 65, 70 or 79 years)11,12. We use a statistical method that allows genetic (co)variance to be estimated from SNP data on unrelated individuals13,14,15,16,17. We estimate that causal genetic variants in linkage disequilibrium with common SNPs account for 0.24 of the variation in cognitive ability change from childhood to old age. Using bivariate analysis, we estimate a genetic correlation between intelligence at age 11 years and in old age of 0.62. These estimates, derived from rarely available data on lifetime cognitive measures, warrant the search for genetic causes of cognitive stability and change.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the cohort participants who contributed to these studies. Genotyping of the ABC1936, LBC1921 and LBC1936 cohorts and the analyses conducted here were supported by the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). Phenotype collection in the LBC1921 was supported by the BBSRC, The Royal Society and The Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government. Phenotype collection in the LBC1936 was supported by Research Into Ageing (continues as part of Age UK’s The Disconnected Mind project). Phenotype collection in the ABC1936 was supported by the BBSRC, the Wellcome Trust and the Alzheimer’s Research Trust. The Australian-based researchers acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council. M.L. is a Royal Society of Edinburgh/Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland Personal Research Fellow. The work was undertaken in The University of Edinburgh Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, part of the cross council Lifelong Health and Wellbeing Initiative (G0700704/84698), for which funding from the BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC and MRC is gratefully acknowledged.

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Author notes

  1. Ian J. Deary, Jian Yang and Peter M. Visscher: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK,

    Ian J. Deary, Gail Davies, David Liewald, Michelle Luciano, Lorna M. Lopez, Alan J. Gow, Janie Corley & Paul Redmond

  2. Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK,

    Ian J. Deary, Gail Davies, Sarah E. Harris, David Liewald, Michelle Luciano, Lorna M. Lopez, Alan J. Gow, David J. Porteous, John M. Starr & Peter M. Visscher

  3. Queensland Institute of Medical Research, 300 Herston Road, Brisbane, Queensland 4006, Australia,

    Jian Yang & Peter M. Visscher

  4. Medical Genetics Section, Molecular Medicine Centre, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK,

    Sarah E. Harris, Albert Tenesa & David J. Porteous

  5. The Roslin Institute, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Roslin, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK,

    Albert Tenesa & Suzanne J. Rowe

  6. Institute of Applied Health Sciences, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, UK,

    Helen C. Fox, Geraldine McNeill & Lawrence J. Whalley

  7. Nutrition and Epigenetics Group, Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, University of Aberdeen, Greenburn Road, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB21 9SB, UK,

    Paul Haggarty

  8. Department of Food and Agricultural Systems, Australia and Victorian Department of Primary Industries, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3011, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia,

    Michael E. Goddard

  9. Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK,

    John M. Starr

  10. University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, University of Queensland, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland 4102, Australia,

    Peter M. Visscher

  11. The Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia,

    Peter M. Visscher

Authors
  1. Ian J. Deary
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  2. Jian Yang
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Contributions

I.J.D. and P.M.V. designed the study. J.Y. and P.M.V. performed statistical analyses, with I.J.D., M.E.G., A.T. and S.J.R. contributing to discussions regarding analyses. G.D., S.E.H., D.L., A.T., M.L. and L.M.L. performed quality control analyses and prepared data. S.E.H., M.L., L.M.L., A.J.G., J.C., P.R., H.C.F., S.J.R., P.H., L.J.W., G.M., D.J.P., J.M.S. and I.J.D. contributed genotype and phenotype data. I.J.D., P.M.V. and J.Y. contributed to writing the paper and Supplementary Information. All authors contributed to revising the paper and Supplementary Information.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ian J. Deary or Peter M. Visscher.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

The file contains Supplementary Notes and Data, Supplementary Tables 1-4, Supplementary Figures 1-3 with legends and additional references. (PDF 392 kb)

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Deary, I., Yang, J., Davies, G. et al. Genetic contributions to stability and change in intelligence from childhood to old age. Nature 482, 212–215 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10781

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