Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23952646›Full record

ArticleJournal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines2013

Schooling and variation in the COMT gene: the devil is in the details.

Daniel Campbell, Johanna Bick, Carolyn M Yrigollen, Maria Lee, Antony Joseph, Joseph T Chang, Elena L Grigorenko, Learning Disabilities Project: Zambia

Open access · greenAbstract readComparative Study
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.3field-weighted citation impact, top 31% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Daniel CampbellYale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
Johanna Bick
Carolyn M Yrigollen
Maria Lee
Antony Joseph
Joseph T Chang
Elena L Grigorenko
Learning Disabilities Project: Zambia
Yale University · USUniversity of California, Berkeley · USUniversity of California, Davis · US

Funding

THE FLORIDA LONGITUDINAL STUDYP50HD052120 · NICHD · FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY · PI Nicole Sandi Patton-Terry · 2006 to 2026
$31.7M
TRAINING PROGRAM IN CHILDHOOD NEUROPSYCHIATRIC DISORDERST32MH018268 · NIMH · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI Michael H Bloch, MICHAEL J CROWLEY · 1985 to 2026
$11.0M
Genetic Bases of Developmental Language DisordersR01DC007665 · NIDCD · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI GRIGORENKO, ELENA L · 2006 to 2010
$3.0M
Neurobiological Foundations of reading (dis)abilityR01HD048830 · NICHD · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI PUGH, KENNETH R. · 2005 to 2010
$3.0M
Epidemiological Survey of Learning Disabilities in ZambiaR21TW006764 · FIC · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI GRIGORENKO, ELENA L · 2003 to 2005
$331k
Autism Speaks AS7614FIC NIH HHS R21 TW006764FIC NIH HHS TW006764NICHD NIH HHS HD048830NICHD NIH HHS HD052120NICHD NIH HHS P50 HD052120NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD048830NIDCD NIH HHS DC007665NIDCD NIH HHS R01 DC007665NIMH NIH HHS T32 MH018268NIMH NIH HHS T32MH18268
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSchooling is considered one of the major contributors to the development of intelligence within societies and individuals. Genetic variation might modulate the impact of schooling and explain, at least partially, the presence of individual differences in classrooms.

methodWe studied a sample of 1,502 children (mean age = 11.7 years) from Zambia. Approximately 57% of these children were enrolled in school, and the rest were not. To quantify genetic variation, we investigated a number of common polymorphisms in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene that controls the production of the protein thought to account for >60% of the dopamine degradation in the prefrontal cortex.

resultsHaplotype analyses generated results ranging from the presence to absence of significant interactions between a number of COMT haplotypes and indicators of schooling (i.e., in- vs. out-of-school and grade completed) in the prediction of nonverbal intelligence, depending on the parameter specification. However, an investigation of the distribution of corresponding p-values suggested that these positive results were false.

conclusionsConvincing evidence that the variation in the COMT gene is associated with individual differences in nonverbal intelligence either directly or through interactions with schooling was not found. p-values produced by the method of testing for haplotype effects employed here may be sensitive to parameter settings, invalid under default settings, and should be checked for validity through simulation.

Indexed as

Educational StatusGene-Environment InteractionSchoolsAdolescentCatechol O-MethyltransferaseChildFemaleHaplotypesHumansIndividualityIntelligenceMalePolymorphism, GeneticReproducibility of ResultsZambiaCatechol O-Methyltransferasehaplo.glmhaplotype analysisinteraction effectsnonverbal intelligenceSchoolingthe COMT gene

Identifiers

PMID23952646
PMCPMC3786416
OpenAlexW2048035950

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.