Polygenic prediction of school performance in children with and without psychiatric disorders

Suboptimal school performance is often seen in children with psychiatric disorders and is influenced by both genetics and the environment. Educational attainment polygenic score (EA-PGS) has been shown to significantly predict school performance in the general population. Here we analyze the association of EA-PGS with school performance in 18,495 children with and 12,487, without one or more of six psychiatric disorders and show that variance explained in the school performance by the EA-PGS is substantially lower in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Accounting for parents’ socioeconomic status obliterated the variance difference between ADHD–but not ASD–and controls. Given that a large proportion of the prediction performance of EA-PGS originate from family environment, our findings hint that family environmental influences on school performance might differ between ADHD and controls; studying the same further will open new avenues to improve the school performance of children with ADHD.