Publications by authors named "Ann S Kristensen"

Panic disorder (PD) is a severe and disabling mental disorder, which is moderately heritable. In a previous study, we carried out a genome-wide association study using patients with PD and control individuals from the isolated population of the Faroe Islands and identified chromosome 19p13.2 as a candidate region.

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Objective: To examine whether a shift in work-related bullying status, from being non-bullied to being bullied or vice versa, was associated with changes in reporting of personality characteristics.

Methods: Data on bullying and personality (neuroticism, extraversion, and sense of coherence) were collected in three waves approximately 2 years apart (N = 4947). Using a within-subjects design, personality change scores that followed altered bullying status were evaluated with one-sample t tests.

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Background: Mannan-binding lectin (MBL) and mannan-binding lectin-associated serine protease-2 (MASP-2) represent important arms of the innate immune system, and different deficiencies may result in infections or autoimmune diseases. Both bipolar and panic disorders are associated with increased inflammatory response, infections and mutual comorbidity. However, associations with MBL, MASP-2 or the gene, MBL2, coding for MBL, have not been investigated thoroughly.

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We analysed single nucleotide polymorphisms in two transmembrane genes (TMEM98 and TMEM132E) in panic disorder (PD) patients and control individuals from the Faroe Islands, Denmark and Germany. The genes encode single-pass membrane proteins and are located within chromosome 17q11.2-q12, a previously reported candidate region for PD.

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Objective: There is clear evidence of a genetic component in major depression, and several studies indicate that neuropeptide Y (NPY) could play an important role in the pathophysiology of the disease. A well-known polymorphism encoding the substitution of leucine to proline in the signal peptide sequence of NPY (Leu7Pro variation) was previously found to protect against depression. Our study aimed at replicating this association in a large Danish population with major depression.

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Panic disorder (PD) is a mental disorder with recurrent panic attacks that occur spontaneously and are not associated to any particular object or situation. There is no consensus on what causes PD. However, it is recognized that PD is influenced by environmental factors, as well as genetic factors.

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Panic disorder (PD) is one of the most common anxiety disorders, with a prevalence of 3.4-4.7%.

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It is unknown whether the relation between job strain and depression reflects causal characteristics of the working environment or reporting bias. The authors investigated reporting bias by analyzing individual versus work-unit measures of job strain and the risk of depressive symptoms (n = 287) and a diagnosis of depression (n = 97) among 4,291 employees within 378 work units in Aarhus, Denmark, 2007. All participants reported psychological demands and decision latitude, and the authors estimated mean values for each work unit.

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Background: The occurrence of stressful life events (SLEs) has been shown to predict response to antidepressants; however, results are inconsistent. There is some evidence to suggest that SLEs prior to treatment are associated with greater cognitive symptoms at baseline and may therefore predict changes in these symptoms specifically.

Methods: GENDEP, a prospective part-randomised pharmacogenomics trial, collected longitudinal data on the symptoms of patients with major depression treated with either a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI, escitalopram) or a tricyclic antidepressant (TCA, nortriptyline).

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Psychiatric genetic research brings on the possibility of psychiatric genetic testing. The optimal and responsible utilization of genetic testing depends on knowledge of the potential consumers' attitudes and expectations regarding testing. The aim of this study was to assess potential consumers' attitudes and expectations toward psychiatric genetics and factors influencing their intentions to test.

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A sample of 327 patients with primary panic disorder or social phobia completed a questionnaire comprising 77 emotional and cognitive anxiety symptoms from which 12 index scales were constructed. Explorative factor analysis yielded two factors, but confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the factor solution was not invariant across diagnoses. Nevertheless, the two-factor structures fitting data from patients with panic disorder and social phobia, respectively, had similarities in content.

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The association between anxiety disorders and different measures of personality has been extensively studied to further the understanding of etiology, course, and treatment, and to possibly prevent the development of anxiety disorders. We have proposed a hierarchical model of bodily anxiety symptoms with 1 second-order severity factor and 5 first-order factors: cardio-respiratory, gastro-intestinal, autonomic, vertigo, and tension. The aim of this study was to investigate whether personality traits were differentially related to distinct symptom subdimensions or exclusively related to the general severity factor.

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Overlap between social phobia (SP) and panic disorder (PD) has been observed in epidemiological, family, and challenge studies. One possible explanation is that some cases of SP develop as a consequence of a panic attack in a social situation. By definition, these cases of SP have sudden onset.

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