TY - JOUR
T1 - Developmental language disorder – a comprehensive study of more than 46,000 individuals
AU - Nudel, Ron
AU - Christensen, Rikke Vang
AU - Kalnak, Nelli
AU - Schwinn, Michael
AU - Banasik, Karina
AU - Dinh, Khoa Manh
AU - Erikstrup, Christian
AU - Pedersen, Ole Birger
AU - Burgdorf, Kristoffer Sølvsten
AU - Ullum, Henrik
AU - Ostrowski, Sisse Rye
AU - Hansen, Thomas Folkmann
AU - Werge, Thomas
AU - DBDS Genomic Consortium
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Developmental language disorder (DLD) is characterized by enduring low language abilities with a significant functional impact, in the absence of biomedical conditions in which language impairment is part of a complex of impairments. There is a lack of awareness of DLD even among healthcare professionals. Here we estimated the prevalence of DLD and its links to reading and learning difficulties and physical and mental health in the Danish Blood Donor Study (N = 46,547), where DLD-related information is based on questionnaires (self-report). We compared the questionnaire-derived DLD status with the relevant language-related diagnoses from hospital registers. We also investigated the genetic architecture of DLD in a subset of the cohort (N = 18,380). DLD was significantly associated with reading and learning difficulties and poorer mental and physical health. DLD prevalence was 3.36%–3.70% based on questionnaires, compared with 0.04% in hospital registers. Our genetic analyses identified one genome-wide significant locus, but not a significant heritability estimate. Our study shows that DLD has health-related implications that may last into adulthood, and that DLD may be undiagnosed in general healthcare. Furthermore, DLD is likely more genetically heterogeneous than narrower developmental language phenotypes. Our results emphasize the need to raise awareness of DLD and consider criteria for molecular studies of DLD to reduce case heterogeneity.
AB - Developmental language disorder (DLD) is characterized by enduring low language abilities with a significant functional impact, in the absence of biomedical conditions in which language impairment is part of a complex of impairments. There is a lack of awareness of DLD even among healthcare professionals. Here we estimated the prevalence of DLD and its links to reading and learning difficulties and physical and mental health in the Danish Blood Donor Study (N = 46,547), where DLD-related information is based on questionnaires (self-report). We compared the questionnaire-derived DLD status with the relevant language-related diagnoses from hospital registers. We also investigated the genetic architecture of DLD in a subset of the cohort (N = 18,380). DLD was significantly associated with reading and learning difficulties and poorer mental and physical health. DLD prevalence was 3.36%–3.70% based on questionnaires, compared with 0.04% in hospital registers. Our genetic analyses identified one genome-wide significant locus, but not a significant heritability estimate. Our study shows that DLD has health-related implications that may last into adulthood, and that DLD may be undiagnosed in general healthcare. Furthermore, DLD is likely more genetically heterogeneous than narrower developmental language phenotypes. Our results emphasize the need to raise awareness of DLD and consider criteria for molecular studies of DLD to reduce case heterogeneity.
KW - Developmental language disorder
KW - Genome-wide association study
KW - Heritability
KW - Specific language impairment
U2 - 10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115171
DO - 10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115171
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 36963307
AN - SCOPUS:85150807356
VL - 323
JO - Psychiatry Research
JF - Psychiatry Research
SN - 0165-1781
M1 - 115171
ER -