Developmental language disorder – heritability and genetic correlations with other disorders affecting language
Open accessAbstract
Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder primarily affecting language in the absence of a known biomedical condition, which may have a large impact on a person's life and mental health. Family-based studies indicate a strong genetic component in DLD, but genetic studies of DLD are scarce. In this study we estimated the heritability of DLD and its genetic correlations with related disorders and traits in sample of >25,000 individuals from the Danish Blood Donor Study for whom we had both genotype data and questionnaire data on language disorder and language support. We estimated SNP-based heritabilities for DLD and genetic correlations with disorders which may involve spoken language deficits and traits related to spoken language. We found significant heritability estimates for DLD ranging from ∼27 % to ∼52 %, depending on the method used. We found no significant evidence for genetic correlation with the investigated disorders or traits, although the strongest effect was observed for a negative genetic correlation between DLD and nonword repetition ability. To our knowledge, this study reports the first significant heritability estimate for DLD from molecular genetic data.
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DLD has a genetic component such that individuals have a significantly elevated risk of developing DLD if there is a familial history.
“DLD has been shown to have a genetic component such that individuals have a significantly elevated risk of developing DLD if there is a familial history [18–20].”
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Goble, G., Hennessy, V., Cheng, T.-H. Z., Rodda, A., Taulu, S., Gordon, R. L., & Zhao, T. C. (2026) · PLOS One · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0335596
“DLD has been shown to have a genetic component such that individuals have a significantly elevated risk of developing DLD if there is a familial history [18–20].”
- Authors
- Nudel, R., Chrsitensen, R. V., Kalnak, N., Lundberg, M., Schwinn, M., Sørensen, E., Mikkelsen, C., Nissen, J., Christoffersen, L. A. N., Kjerulff, B. D., Hansen, T. F., Burgdorf, K. S., Banasik, K., Bay, J., Kjærgaard Boldsen, J., Brodersen, T., Brunak, S., Demur, A. B., Nordahl Christoffersen, L. A., Didriksen, M., Dinh, K. M., Dowsett, J., Erikstrup, C., Feenstra, B., Geller, F., Gudbjartsson, D., Hansen, T. F., Mikkelsen, D. H., Hindhede, L., Hjalgrim, H., von Stemann, J. H., Jensen, B. A., Schork, A. J., Kaspersen, K., Kjerulff, B. D., Kongstad, M., Mikkelsen, S., Mikkelsen, C., Nissen, J., Nyegaard, M., Ostrowski, S. R., Pedersen, O. B., Elgaard Quinn, L. J., Rafnar, Þ., Rohde, P. D., Rostgaard, K., Schwinn, M., Sørensen, E., Stefansson, K., Stefánsson, H., Thørner, L. W., Þorsteinsdóttir, U., Bruun, M. T., Ullum, H., Werge, T., Westergaard, D., Pedersen, O. B. V., Erikstrup, C., Gísladóttir, R. S., Walters, G. B., Stefánsson, H., Ostrowski, S. R., & Werge, T.
- Affiliations
- Mental Health Services (DK)
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- Sankt Hans Hospital (DK)
- deCODE Genetics (Iceland) (IS)
- University of Iceland (IS)
- Corresponding author
- Nudel, Ron
- ORCID
- Venue
- Psychiatry Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2024-12
- Volume
- 342
- Pages
- 116212
- ISSN
- 0165-1781 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4402733190
- Cited by
- 8
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 3
- FWCI
- 6.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Psychiatry Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- VBN Forskningsportal (Aalborg Universitet) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Scopus (Elsevier) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Lundbeck Foundation (R209-2015-3500)
- Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF14CC0001, NNF17OC0027594)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
- Keywords
- specific language impairment, heritability, genetic correlation, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, spoken language, non-word repetition, language support, genetic architecture
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Denmark, Female, Humans, Language Development Disorders, Male, Middle Aged, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Young Adult
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