Preliminary evidence of an association between an interleukin 6 promoter polymorphism and self-reported attentional function in oncology patients and their family caregivers.

ABSTRACT: Subgroups of individuals may be at greater risk of cytokine-induced changes in attentional function. The purposes of this study were to identify subgroups of individuals with distinct trajectories of attentional function and evaluate for phenotypic and genotypic (i.e., cytokine gene polymorphisms) differences among these subgroups. Self-reported attentional function was evaluated in 252 participants (167 oncology patients and 85 family caregivers) using the Attentional Function Index before radiation therapy and at six additional assessments over 6 months. Three latent classes of attentional function were identified using growth mixture modeling: moderate (36.5%), moderate-to-high (48.0%), and high (15.5%) attentional function. Participants in the moderate class were significantly younger,

SUBMITTER: Merriman JD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4003494 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature