Prospective study of depressive symptoms and incident cardiovascular diseases in people with type 2 diabetes.

Background: To prospectively examine whether depressive symptoms were associated with higher risks of incident cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: Included were 17,031 participants from UK Biobank with type 2 diabetes who were free of depression (identified by self-reported medical history, hospital record, and antidepressant use), and composite CVD, including atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and heart failure (HF). Cox proportional hazards models were applied to examine the association between depressive symptoms measured by Patient Health Questionaire-2 (PHQ-2) and incident composite CVD and its subtypes, adjusting for potential confounders.

Association between Egg Consumption and Dementia in Chinese Adults.

Background/objectives: The association between egg consumption and dementia is unclear. We carried out a population-based case-control study in China to determine the independent association of egg consumption with dementia.

Methods: We randomly recruited 233 participants with dementia and 233 without dementia from the community health service clinics and the dementia management system in Guangzhou, China to examine their dietary intakes over the past two years and other risk factors for chronic diseases.

The impact of gardening on well-being, mental health, and quality of life: an umbrella review and meta-analysis.

Background: Gardening and horticultural therapy (HT) has been widely recognised as a multicomponent approach that has affected a broad range of health and well-being outcomes. The aim of this umbrella review and meta-analysis was to compare the findings of previous reviews on the impact of multiple gardening interventions and gardening attributes on different well-being constructs.

Methods: Electronic databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Science Direct, the Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar were searched from inception to December 2022.

Risk of fibromyalgia following antibiotic prescriptions: A population-based case-control study.

Background: The health of the gut microbiome is now recognized to be an important component of the gut-brain axis which itself appears to be implicated in pain perception. Antibiotics are known to create dysbiosis in the microbiome, so whether fibromyalgia is more commonly diagnosed after antibiotic prescriptions provides a means of exploring the role of the microbiome in the experience of chronic pain.

Methods: A case-control study was carried out using electronic health records collected in the UK's Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), a comprehensive database of primary care consultations.

Association of coexistence of frailty and depressive symptoms with mortality in community-dwelling older adults: Kashiwa Cohort Study.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the longitudinal associations of the coexistence of frailty and depressive symptoms with mortality among older adults.

Methods: The study participants were community-dwelling older adults aged ≥65 years who participated in the baseline survey of the Kashiwa Cohort Study in Japan in 2012. We used Fried's frailty phenotype criteria to classify participants as non-frail (score = 0), pre-frail (1 or 2), or frail (≥3).

Determinants of multimorbidity in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review of longitudinal studies and discovery of evidence gaps.

Multimorbidity-the coexistence of at least two chronic health conditions within the same individual-is an important global health challenge. In high-income countries (HICs), multimorbidity is dominated by non-communicable diseases (NCDs); whereas, the situation may be different in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where chronic communicable diseases remain prominent. The aim of this systematic review was to identify determinants (including risk and protective factors) and potential mechanisms underlying multimorbidity from published longitudinal studies across diverse population-based or community-dwelling populations in LMICs.

Reconsidering the Use of Population Health Surveys for Monitoring of Mental Health.

Monitoring of the mental health status of the population and assessment of its determinants are 2 of the most relevant pillars of public mental health, and data from population health surveys could be instrumental to support them. Although these surveys could be an important and suitable resource for these purposes, due to different limitations and challenges, they are often relegated to the background behind other data sources, such as electronic health records. These limitations and challenges include those related to measurement properties and cross-cultural validity of the tools used for the assessment of mental disorders, their degree of representativeness, and possible difficulties in the linkage with other data sources.

How is nicotine vaping product (e-cigarette) use monitored in primary care electronic health records in the United Kingdom? An exploratory analysis of Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD).

Background: Electronic health records (EHRs) could identify long-term health effects of nicotine vaping. We characterised the extent to which vaping is recorded in primary care EHRs in the UK, on a population level.

Methods: We performed descriptive analysis of Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), primary care electronic health records of 25% of the UK population (~ 16 million patients).

Prevalence and variability of depressive symptoms in Europe: update using representative data from the second and third waves of the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS-2 and EHIS-3).

Background: Assessing the prevalence of clinically relevant depressive symptoms and their possible variation by country and over time could be a valuable resource to inform the development of public health policies and preventive resources to reduce mental health burden. We aimed to assess cross-national differences in the point prevalence of clinically relevant depressive symptoms in Europe in 2018-20, and to evaluate point prevalence differences between countries and over time between 2013-15 and 2018-20.

Methods: In this population-based study, data from participants in the second and third waves of the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS-2 from 2013 to 2015 and EHIS-3 from 2018 to 2020) from 30 European countries were used (n=542 580).

Severe mental illness, race/ethnicity, multimorbidity and mortality following COVID-19 infection: nationally representative cohort study.

Background: The association of COVID-19 with death in people with severe mental illness (SMI), and associations with multimorbidity and ethnicity, are unclear.

Aims: To determine all-cause mortality in people with SMI following COVID-19 infection, and assess whether excess mortality is affected by multimorbidity or ethnicity.

Method: This was a retrospective cohort study using primary care data from the Clinical Practice Research Database, from February 2020 to April 2021.

Reliability and cross-country equivalence of the 8-item version of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8) for the assessment of depression: results from 27 countries in Europe.

Background: The 8-item version of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8) is one of the self-reported questionnaires most frequently used worldwide for the screening and severity assessment of depression. However, in some European countries its reliability is unknown, and it is unclear whether its psychometric properties vary between European countries. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the internal structure, reliability and cross-country equivalence of the PHQ-8 in Europe.

The relationship between air pollution and multimorbidity: Can two birds be killed with the same stone?

Air pollution and multimorbidity are two of the most important challenges for Public Health worldwide. Although there is a large body of evidence linking air pollution with the development of different single chronic conditions, the evidence about the relationship between air pollution and multimorbidity (the co-occurrence of multiple long-term conditions) is sparse. To obtain evidence about this relationship could be challenging and different aspects should be considered, such as its multifaceted and complex nature, the specific pollutants and their potential influence on health, their levels of exposure over time, or the data that could be used for its study.

Associations between air pollution and multimorbidity in the UK Biobank: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Long-term exposure to air pollution concentrations is known to be adversely associated with a broad range of single non-communicable diseases, but its role in multimorbidity has not been investigated in the UK. We aimed to assess associations between long-term air pollution exposure and multimorbidity status, severity, and patterns using the UK Biobank cohort.

Methods: Multimorbidity status was calculated based on 41 physical and mental conditions.

Ethnic differences in physical and mental multimorbidity in working age adults with a history of depression and/or anxiety.

Background: The current study used data from an ethnically diverse population from South London to examine ethnic differences in physical and mental multimorbidity among working age (18-64 years) adults in the context of depression and anxiety.

Method: The study included 44 506 patients who had previously attended Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services in the London Borough of Lambeth. Multinomial logistic regression examined cross-sectional associations between ethnicity with physical and mental multimorbidity.

Prior antibiotics and risk of subsequent Herpes zoster: A population-based case control study.

Background: The effect of antibiotics on the human microbiome is now well established, but their indirect effect on the related immune response is less clear. The possible association of Herpes zoster, which involves a reactivation of a previous varicella zoster virus infection, with prior antibiotic exposure might indicate a potential link with the immune response.

Methods: A case-control study was carried out using a clinical database, the UK's Clinical Practice Research Datalink.

Frailty in individuals with depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety disorders: longitudinal analyses of all-cause mortality.

Background: Frailty is a medical syndrome that is strongly associated with mortality risk and an emerging global health burden. Mental disorders are associated with reduced life expectancy and elevated levels of frailty. In this study, we examined the mortality risk associated with frailty in individuals with a lifetime history of mental disorders compared to individuals without a history of mental disorders.

COVID-19 ethnic inequalities in mental health and multimorbidities: protocol for the COVEIMM study.

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated ethnic health inequalities, particularly in people with multiple long-term health conditions, the interplay with mental health is unclear. This study investigates the impact of the pandemic on the association of ethnicity and multimorbidity with mortality/service use among adults, in people living with severe mental illnesses (SMI).

Methods: This study will utilise secondary mental healthcare records via the Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) and nationally representative primary care records through the Clinical Practice Interactive Research Database (CPRD).

Multimorbidity clusters among people with serious mental illness: a representative primary and secondary data linkage cohort study.

Background: People with serious mental illness (SMI) experience higher mortality partially attributable to higher long-term condition (LTC) prevalence. However, little is known about multiple LTCs (MLTCs) clustering in this population.

Methods: People from South London with SMI and two or more existing LTCs aged 18+ at diagnosis were included using linked primary and mental healthcare records, 2012-2020.