Decoupling sleep and brain size in childhood: An investigation of genetic covariation in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study

摘要: BackgroundChildhood sleep problems are common and among the most frequent and impairing comorbidities of childhood psychiatric disorders. In adults, sleep disturbances are heritable and show strong genetic associations with brain morphology; however, little is known about the genetic architecture of childhood sleep and potential etiological links between sleep, brain development, and pediatric-onset psychiatric symptoms.MethodsUsing data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (nPhenotype = 4428 for discovery/replication, nGenetics = 4728; age 9–10 years), we assessed phenotypic relationships, heritability, and genetic correlations between childhood sleep disturbances (insomnia, arousal, breathing, somnolence, hyperhidrosis, sleep-wake transitions), brain size (surface area, cortical thickness, volume), and dimensional psychopathology.ResultsSleep disturbances showed …