•Youth with persistent mood symptoms had worse psychosocial functioning.•Youth with persistent mood symptoms were more likely to receive disability.•Youth with remitted symptoms still exhibited ...current psychosocial functioning deficits.•Several variables predicted psychosocial impairment in youth with remitted symptoms.•Similar variables predicted no school/unemployment in youth with remitted symptoms.
In a sample of participants diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder (BD) in youth, we aim: (1) to examine longitudinal psychosocial functioning; (2) to determine whether psychosocial impairment remains in those who remitted from mood disorders during later periods of follow-up; (3) to examine predictors of psychosocial impairment despite symptomatic remission.
A Course and Outcome of Bipolar Youth subsample of 367 (≥ 4 years follow-up data) were grouped into mood trajectories: Class 1 Predominantly Euthymic; Class 2 Moderately Euthymic; Class 3 Ill with Improving Course; Class 4 Predominantly Ill. Psychosocial functioning was assessed via Children's Global Assessment Scale (C-GAS) for those under age 22; Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale after 22. Current school, employment, and disability status were examined. Established predictors of symptomatic impairment were analyzed.
The Predominantly Euthymic Class had better psychosocial functioning, and were more likely to be in school/employed. The Persistently Ill Class had worse psychosocial functioning, and were more likely to receive disability. However, 44% of Predominantly Euthymic and 93% of Ill with Improving Course participants continued to experience current psychosocial impairment. Early BD onset, low Socioeconomic Status (SES), and current comorbidity, predicted poor psychosocial functioning. Low SES, and current comorbidity, predicted no school enrollment/unemployment.
The study does not have a healthy control group to compare functioning findings.
In general, youth with persistent mood symptoms had worse psychosocial functioning, moreover, those with remitted symptoms still exhibited current psychosocial functioning deficits. High risk individuals with predictors of impairment should be targeted for functioning interventions.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
To evaluate the occurrence of HIV and COVID-19 infections in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, through July 2020 and identify ecological correlates driving racial disparities in infection incidence.
For ...each zip code tabulation area, we created citywide comparison
-score measures of COVID-19 cases, new cases of HIV, and the difference between the scores. Choropleth maps were used to identify areas that were similar or dissimilar in terms of disease patterning, and weighted linear regression models helped identify independent ecological predictors of these patterns.
Relative to COVID-19, HIV represented a greater burden in Center City Philadelphia, whereas COVID-19 was more apparent in Northeast Philadelphia. Areas with a greater proportion of Black or African American residents were overrepresented in terms of both diseases.
Although race is a shared nominal upstream factor that conveys increased risk for both infections, an understanding of separate structural, demographic, and economic risk factors that drive the overrepresentation of COVID-19 cases in racial/ethnic communities across Philadelphia is critical.
Difference-based measures are useful in identifying areas that are underrepresented or overrepresented with respect to disease occurrence and may be able to elucidate effective or ineffective mitigation strategies. (
. 2022;112(3):408-416. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306538).
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CEKLJ, DOBA, FSPLJ, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
During an epidemic with a new virus, we depend on modelling to plan the response: but how good are the data? The aim of our work was to better understand the impact of misclassification errors in ...identification of true cases of COVID-19 on epidemic curves. Data originated from Alberta, Canada (available on 28 May 2020). There is presently no information of sensitivity (Sn) and specificity (Sp) of laboratory tests used in Canada for the causal agent for COVID-19. Therefore, we examined best attainable performance in other jurisdictions and similar viruses. This suggested perfect Sp and Sn 60–95%. We used these values to re-calculate epidemic curves to visualize the potential bias due to imperfect testing. If the sensitivity improved, the observed and adjusted epidemic curves likely fall within 95% confidence intervals of the observed counts. However, bias in shape and peak of the epidemic curves can be pronounced, if sensitivity either degrades or remains poor in the 60–70% range. These issues are minor early in the epidemic, but hundreds of undiagnosed cases are likely later on. It is therefore hazardous to judge progress of the epidemic based on observed epidemic curves unless quality of testing is better understood.
Despite burgeoning literature in middle-aged adults, little is known regarding proinflammatory markers (PIMs) among adolescents and young adults with bipolar disorder. Similarly, few prior studies ...have considered potential confounds when examining the association between PIMs and bipolar disorder characteristics. We therefore retrospectively examined these topics in the Course and Outcome of Bipolar Youth (COBY) study.
Subjects were 123 adolescents and young adults (mean SD = 20.4 ± 3.8 years; range, 13.4-28.3 years) in COBY, enrolled between October 2000 and July 2006. DSM-IV diagnoses were determined using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children (K-SADS). Clinical characteristics during the preceding 6 months, including mood, comorbidity, and treatment, were evaluated using the Longitudinal Interval Follow-Up Evaluation (LIFE). Serum levels of interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) were assayed. Primary analyses examined the association of PIMs with bipolar disorder characteristics during the preceding 6 months.
Several lifetime clinical characteristics were significantly associated with PIMs in multivariable analyses, including longer illness duration (P = .005 for IL-6; P = .0004 for hsCRP), suicide attempts (P = .01 for TNF-α), family history of suicide attempts or completion (P = .01 for hsCRP), self-injurious behavior (P =.005 for TNF-α), substance use disorder (SUD) (P < .0001 for hsCRP), and family history of SUD (P = .02 for TNF-α; P = .01 for IL-6). The following bipolar disorder characteristics during the preceding 6 months remained significantly associated with PIMs in multivariable analyses that controlled for differences in comorbidity and treatment: for TNF-α, percentage of weeks with psychosis (χ(2) = 5.7, P =.02); for IL-6, percentage of weeks with subthreshold mood symptoms (χ(2)= 8.3, P = .004) and any suicide attempt (χ(2) = 6.1, P = .01); for hsCRP, maximum severity of depressive symptoms (χ(2) = 8.3, P =.004).
Proinflammatory markers may be relevant to bipolar disorder characteristics as well as other clinical characteristics among adolescents and young adults with bipolar disorder. Traction toward validating PIMs as clinically relevant biomarkers in bipolar disorder will require repeated measures of PIMs and incorporation of relevant covariates.
Background: Head and neck cancer (HNC) is the seventh most common cancer worldwide. Although diet has been proposed to play an important role in HNC, few associations with diet have been convincing ...other than alcohol intake. Studies of dietary patterns that examine overall diets may provide broader insight than studies of individual foods. Little is known about the association between dietary patterns and risk of HNC.Objective: We prospectively evaluated the association between 2 index-based dietary patterns ie, the Healthy Eating Index-2005 (HEI-2005) and alternate Mediterranean Diet Score (aMED) and risk of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.Design: We included 494,967 participants from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health study (1995-2006). HRs (95% CIs) were estimated by using Cox regression. Scores for the HEI-2005 and aMED were calculated on the basis of diet assessed by using a baseline food-frequency questionnaire. Higher scores reflected adherence to dietary recommendations for healthy eating. Our main outcome was the incidence of HNC, including cancer of the larynx, oral cavity, and orohypopharynx.Results: A total of 1868 HNC cases were identified during follow-up. Higher HEI-2005 scores were associated with reduced risk of HNC in men HR: 0.74 (95% CI: 0.61, 0.89) for highest compared with lowest quintiles; P-trend = 0.0008 and women HR: 0.48; 95% CI: 0.33, 0.70; P-trend < 0.0001. High aMED scores were also associated with lower HNC risk in men (HR: 0.80; 95% CI: 0.64, 1.01; P-trend = 0.002) and women (HR: 0.42; 95% CI: 0.24, 0.74; P-trend < 0.0001). Associations were similar among subsites. We did not find significant interactions between smoking and alcohol intake and each index on HNC risk.Conclusions: HEI-2005 and aMED scores were associated inversely with risk of HNC. Large interventional studies are required to assess the causality before conveying definite public health messages. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00340015.
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CMK, GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Substance use disorders (SUD) are common and problematic in bipolar disorder (BP). We prospectively examined predictors of first-onset SUD among adolescents with BP.
Adolescents (12-17 years old; N = ...167) in the Course and Outcome of Bipolar Youth (COBY) study fulfilling criteria for BP-I, BP-II, or operationalized BP not otherwise specified, without SUD at intake, were included. Baseline demographic, clinical, and family history variables, and clinical variables assessed during follow-up, were examined in relation to first-onset SUD. Participants were prospectively interviewed every 38.5 ± 22.2 weeks for an average of 4.25 ± 2.11 years.
First-onset SUD developed among 32% of subjects, after a mean of 2.7 ± 2.0 years from intake. Lifetime alcohol experimentation at intake most robustly predicted first-onset SUD. Lifetime oppositional defiant disorder and panic disorder, family history of SUD, low family cohesiveness, and absence of antidepressant treatment at intake were also associated with increased risk of SUD, whereas BP subtype was not. Risk of SUD increased with increasing number of these 6 predictors: 54.7% of subjects with 3 or more predictors developed SUD vs. 14.1% of those with fewer than 3 predictors (hazard ratio = 5.41 95% confidence interval = 2.7-11.0 p < .0001). Greater hypo/manic symptom severity in the preceding 12 weeks predicted greater likelihood of SUD onset. Lithium exposure in the preceding 12 weeks predicted lower likelihood of SUD.
This study identifies several predictors of first-onset SUD in the COBY sample that, if replicated, may suggest targets for preventive interventions for SUD among youth with BP. Treatment-related findings are inconclusive and must be interpreted tentatively, given the limitations of observational naturalistic treatment data. There is a substantial window of opportunity between BP and SUD onset during which preventive strategies may be used.
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