Summary Background Epilepsy is associated with high rates of premature mortality, but the contribution of psychiatric comorbidity is uncertain. We assessed the prevalence and risks of premature ...mortality from external causes such as suicide, accidents, and assaults in people with epilepsy with and without psychiatric comorbidity. Methods We studied all individuals born in Sweden between 1954 and 2009 with inpatient and outpatient diagnoses of epilepsy (n=69 995) for risks and causes of premature mortality. Patients were compared with age-matched and sex-matched general population controls (n=660 869) and unaffected siblings (n=81 396). Sensitivity analyses were done to investigate whether these odds differed by sex, age, seizure types, comorbid psychiatric diagnosis, and different time periods after epilepsy diagnosis. Results 6155 (8.8%) people with epilepsy died during follow-up, at a median age of 34·5 (IQR 21·0–44·0) years with substantially elevated odds of premature mortality (adjusted odds ratio aOR of 11·1 95% CI 10·6–11·6 compared with general population controls, and 11·4 10·4–12·5 compared with unaffected siblings). Of those deaths, 15·8% (n=972) were from external causes, with high odds for non-vehicle accidents (aOR 5·5, 95 % CI 4·7–6·5) and suicide (3·7, 3·3–4·2). Of those who died from external causes, 75·2% had comorbid psychiatric disorders, with strong associations in individuals with co-occurring depression (13·0, 10·3–16·6) and substance misuse (22·4, 18·3–27·3), compared with patients with no epilepsy and no psychiatric comorbidity. Interpretation Reducing premature mortality from external causes of death should be a priority in epilepsy management. Psychiatric comorbidity plays an important part in the premature mortality seen in epilepsy. The ability of health services and public health measures to prevent such deaths requires review. Funding Wellcome Trust, the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, and the Swedish Research Council.
Premature mortality in autism spectrum disorder Hirvikoski, Tatja; Mittendorfer-Rutz, Ellenor; Boman, Marcus ...
British journal of psychiatry,
03/2016, Letnik:
208, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Mortality has been suggested to be increased in autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
To examine both all-cause and cause-specific mortality in ASD, as well as investigate moderating role of gender and ...intellectual ability.
Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated for a population-based cohort of ASD probands (n = 27,122, diagnosed between 1987 and 2009) compared with gender-, age- and county of residence-matched controls (n = 2,672,185).
During the observed period, 24,358 (0.91%) individuals in the general population died, whereas the corresponding figure for individuals with ASD was 706 (2.60%; OR = 2.56; 95% CI 2.38-2.76). Cause-specific analyses showed elevated mortality in ASD for almost all analysed diagnostic categories. Mortality and patterns for cause-specific mortality were partly moderated by gender and general intellectual ability.
Premature mortality was markedly increased in ASD owing to a multitude of medical conditions.
Genetic influences play a significant role in risk for psychiatric disorders, prompting numerous endeavors to further understand their underlying genetic architecture. In this paper, we summarize and ...review evidence from traditional twin studies and more recent genome-wide molecular genetic analyses regarding two important issues that have proven particularly informative for psychiatric genetic research. First, emerging results are beginning to suggest that genetic risk factors for some (but not all) clinically diagnosed psychiatric disorders or extreme manifestations of psychiatric traits in the population share genetic risks with quantitative variation in milder traits of the same disorder throughout the general population. Second, there is now evidence for substantial sharing of genetic risks across different psychiatric disorders. This extends to the level of characteristic traits throughout the population, with which some clinical disorders also share genetic risks. In this review, we summarize and evaluate the evidence for these two issues, for a range of psychiatric disorders. We then critically appraise putative interpretations regarding the potential meaning of genetic correlation across psychiatric phenotypes. We highlight several new methods and studies which are already using these insights into the genetic architecture of psychiatric disorders to gain additional understanding regarding the underlying biology of these disorders. We conclude by outlining opportunities for future research in this area.
Summary Background Whether schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are the clinical outcomes of discrete or shared causative processes is much debated in psychiatry. We aimed to assess genetic and ...environmental contributions to liability for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and their comorbidity. Methods We linked the multi-generation register, which contains information about all children and their parents in Sweden, and the hospital discharge register, which includes all public psychiatric inpatient admissions in Sweden. We identified 9 009 202 unique individuals in more than 2 million nuclear families between 1973 and 2004. Risks for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and their comorbidity were assessed for biological and adoptive parents, offspring, full-siblings and half-siblings of probands with one of the diseases. We used a multivariate generalised linear mixed model for analysis of genetic and environmental contributions to liability for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the comorbidity. Findings First-degree relatives of probands with either schizophrenia (n=35 985) or bipolar disorder (n=40 487) were at increased risk of these disorders. Half-siblings had a significantly increased risk (schizophrenia: relative risk RR 3·6, 95% CI 2·3–5·5 for maternal half-siblings, and 2·7, 1·9–3·8 for paternal half-siblings; bipolar disorder: 4·5, 2·7–7·4 for maternal half-siblings, and 2·4, 1·4–4·1 for paternal half-siblings), but substantially lower than that of the full-siblings (schizophrenia: 9·0, 8·5–11·6; bipolar disorder: 7·9, 7·1–8·8). When relatives of probands with bipolar disorder were analysed, increased risks for schizophrenia existed for all relationships, including adopted children to biological parents with bipolar disorder. Heritability for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder was 64% and 59%, respectively. Shared environmental effects were small but substantial (schizophrenia: 4·5%, 4·4%–7·4%; bipolar disorder: 3·4%, 2·3%–6·2%) for both disorders. The comorbidity between disorders was mainly (63%) due to additive genetic effects common to both disorders. Interpretation Similar to molecular genetic studies, we showed evidence that schizophrenia and bipolar disorder partly share a common genetic cause. These results challenge the current nosological dichotomy between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and are consistent with a reappraisal of these disorders as distinct diagnostic entities. Funding Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research, and the Swedish Research Council.
Researchers have identified environmental risks that predict subsequent psychological and medical problems. Based on these correlational findings, researchers have developed and tested complex ...developmental models and have examined biological moderating factors (e.g., gene-environment interactions). In this context, we stress the critical need for researchers to use family-based, quasi-experimental designs when trying to integrate genetic and social science research involving environmental variables because these designs rigorously examine causal inferences by testing competing hypotheses. We argue that sibling comparison, offspring of twins or siblings, in vitro fertilization designs, and other genetically informed approaches play a unique role in bridging gaps between basic biological and social science research. We use studies on maternal smoking during pregnancy to exemplify these principles.
Male preponderance in autistic behavioral impairment has been explained in terms of a hypothetical protective effect of female sex, yet little research has tested this hypothesis empirically. If ...females are protected, they should require greater etiologic load to manifest the same degree of impairment as males. The objective of this analysis was to examine whether greater familial etiologic load was associated with quantitative autistic impairments in females compared with males. Subjects included 3,842 dizygotic twin pairs from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) and 6,040 dizygotic twin pairs from the Child and Adolescent Twin Study of Sweden (CATSS). In both samples, we compared sibling autistic traits between female and male probands, who were identified as children scoring in the top 90th and 95th percentiles of the population autistic trait distributions. In both TEDS and CATSS, siblings of female probands above the 90th percentile had significantly more autistic impairments than the siblings of male probands above the 90th percentile. The siblings of female probands above the 90th percentile also had greater categorical recurrence risk in both TEDS and CATSS. Results were similar in probands above the 95th percentile. This finding, replicated across two nationally-representative samples, suggests that female sex protects girls from autistic impairments and that girls may require greater familial etiologic load to manifest the phenotype. It provides empirical support for the hypothesis of a female protective effect against autistic behavior and can be used to inform and interpret future gene finding efforts in autism spectrum disorders.
In youth, ADHD is more commonly diagnosed in males than females, but higher male-to-female ratios are found in clinical versus population-based samples, suggesting a sex bias in the process of ...receiving a clinical diagnosis of ADHD. This study investigated sex differences in the severity and presentation of ADHD symptoms, conduct problems, and learning problems in males and females with and without clinically diagnosed ADHD. We then investigated whether the predictive associations of these symptom domains on being diagnosed and treated for ADHD differed in males and females. Parents of 19,804 twins (50.64% male) from the Swedish population completed dimensional assessments of ADHD symptoms and co-occurring traits (conduct and learning problems) when children were aged 9 years. Children from this population sample were linked to Patient Register data on clinical ADHD diagnosis and medication prescriptions. At the population level, males had higher scores for all symptom domains (inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, conduct, and learning problems) compared to females, but similar severity was seen in clinically diagnosed males and females. Symptom severity for all domains increased the likelihood of receiving an ADHD diagnosis in both males and females. Prediction analyses revealed significant sex-by-symptom interactions on diagnostic and treatment status for hyperactivity/impulsivity and conduct problems. In females, these behaviours were stronger predictors of clinical diagnosis (hyperactivity/impulsivity: OR 1.08, 95% CI 1.01, 1.15; conduct: OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.09, 1.87), and prescription of pharmacological treatment (hyperactivity/impulsivity: OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.02, 1.50; conduct: OR 2.20, 95% CI 1.05, 4.63). Females with ADHD may be more easily missed in the ADHD diagnostic process and less likely to be prescribed medication unless they have prominent externalising problems.
Summary Background Antipsychotics and mood stabilisers are prescribed widely to patients with psychiatric disorders worldwide. Despite clear evidence for their efficacy in relapse prevention and ...symptom relief, their effect on some adverse outcomes, including the perpetration of violent crime, is unclear. We aimed to establish the effect of antipsychotics and mood stabilisers on the rate of violent crime committed by patients with psychiatric disorders in Sweden. Methods We used linked Swedish national registers to study 82 647 patients who were prescribed antipsychotics or mood stabilisers, their psychiatric diagnoses, and subsequent criminal convictions in 2006–09. We did within-individual analyses to compare the rate of violent criminality during the time that patients were prescribed these medications versus the rate for the same patients while they were not receiving the drugs to adjust for all confounders that remained constant within each participant during follow-up. The primary outcome was the occurrence of violent crime, according to Sweden's national crime register. Findings In 2006–09, 40 937 men in Sweden were prescribed antipsychotics or mood stabilisers, of whom 2657 (6·5%) were convicted of a violent crime during the study period. In the same period, 41 710 women were prescribed these drugs, of whom 604 (1·4 %) had convictions for violent crime. Compared with periods when participants were not on medication, violent crime fell by 45% in patients receiving antipsychotics (hazard ratio HR 0·55, 95% CI 0·47–0·64) and by 24% in patients prescribed mood stabilisers (0·76, 0·62–0·93). However, we identified potentially important differences by diagnosis—mood stabilisers were associated with a reduced rate of violent crime only in patients with bipolar disorder. The rate of violence reduction for antipsychotics remained between 22% and 29% in sensitivity analyses that used different outcomes (any crime, drug-related crime, less severe crime, and violent arrest), and was stronger in patients who were prescribed higher drug doses than in those prescribed low doses. Notable reductions in violent crime were also recorded for depot medication (HR adjusted for concomitant oral medications 0·60, 95% CI 0·39–0·92). Interpretation In addition to relapse prevention and psychiatric symptom relief, the benefits of antipsychotics and mood stabilisers might also include reductions in the rates of violent crime. The potential effects of these drugs on violence and crime should be taken into account when treatment options for patients with psychiatric disorders are being considered. Funding The Wellcome Trust, the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, the Swedish Research Council, and the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare.
Background
Postpartum depression (PPD) can result in negative personal and child developmental outcomes. Only a few large population‐based studies of PPD have used clinical diagnoses of depression ...and no study has examined how a maternal depression history interacts with known risk factors. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of a depression history on PPD and pre‐ and perinatal risk factors.
Methods
A nationwide prospective cohort study of all women with live singleton births in Sweden from 1997 through 2008 was conducted. Relative risk (RR) of clinical depression within the first year postpartum and two‐sided 95% confidence intervals were estimated.
Results
The RR of PPD in women with a history of depression was estimated at 21.03 (confidence interval: 19.72–22.42), compared to those without. Among all women, PPD risk increased with advanced age (1.25 (1.13–1.37)) and gestational diabetes (1.70 (1.36–2.13)). Among women with a history of depression, pregestational diabetes (1.49 (1.01–2.21)) and mild preterm delivery also increased risk (1.20 (1.06–1.36)). Among women with no depression history, young age (2.14 (1.79–2.57)), undergoing instrument‐assisted (1.23 (1.09–1.38)) or cesarean (1.64(1.07–2.50)) delivery, and moderate preterm delivery increased risk (1.36 (1.05–1.75)). Rates of PPD decreased considerably after the first postpartum month (RR = 0.27).
Conclusion
In the largest population‐based study to date, the risk of PPD was more than 20 times higher for women with a depression history, compared to women without. Gestational diabetes was independently associated with a modestly increased PPD risk. Maternal depression history also had a modifying effect on pre‐ and perinatal PPD risk factors.