The effects of childhood adversity on treatment delays and its components in first-episode psychosis.

Apart from increasing risk for psychotic disorders, childhood adversity has been associated with worse outcomes. One way in which childhood adversity may worsen outcomes is by lengthening treatment delays, which are associated with negative impacts. We tested the influence of childhood trauma on treatment delays, measured as the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP), and its help-seeking and referral components, in a first-episode psychosis cohort (N = 203).

Impact of childhood trauma on positive and negative symptom remission in first episode psychosis.

Objective: Early life adversity is suspected to play an important role for onset and course of psychosis, but its relationship with longer-term clinical outcome is not entirely clear. In this longitudinal study, we investigated the impact of childhood trauma (CT) on positive and negative symptom remission in first episode psychosis (FEP) patients over two years.

Methods: A total of 210 FEP patients were assessed with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire.

Early Environmental Upheaval and the Risk for Schizophrenia.

Why does prenatal exposure to wars, natural disasters, urbanicity, or winter increase the risk for schizophrenia? Research from the last two decades has provided rich insight about the underlying chains of causation at play during environmental upheaval, from conception to early infancy. In this review, we appraise the evidence linking schizophrenia spectrum disorder to prenatal maternal stress, obstetric complications, early infections, and maternal nutrition and other lifestyle factors. We discuss putative mechanisms, including the maternal stress system, perinatal hypoxia, and maternal-offspring immune activation.

Sex Differences in Clinical and Functional Outcomes among Patients Treated in an Early Intervention Service for Psychotic Disorders: An Observational Study.

Objective: It has been shown that men with a longstanding psychotic disorder have worse clinical and functional outcomes than women. Our objectives were to examine whether these sex differences are also present among patients treated in an early intervention service (EIS) for psychosis and to determine if these differences are related to risk factors other than sex.

Method: Patients ( = 569) were assessed for demographic/clinical characteristics at entry and for symptoms/functioning over 2 years of treatment.

Pathways to functional outcomes following a first episode of psychosis: The roles of premorbid adjustment, verbal memory and symptom remission.

Objective: Most studies have investigated either the singular or relative contributions of premorbid adjustment, verbal memory and symptom remission to functional outcomes in first-episode psychosis. Fewer studies have examined the pathways of these factors in impacting functioning. Our study addresses this gap.

Disengagement in immigrant groups receiving services for a first episode of psychosis.

Objective: Although early intervention (EI) programs for psychosis invest in clients remaining engaged in treatment, disengagement remains a concern. It is not entirely clear whether immigrants are likelier to disengage. The rates and predictors of disengagement for immigrant vis-à-vis non-immigrant clients in a Canadian EI setting were analyzed.

DNA methylation mediates the effect of exposure to prenatal maternal stress on cytokine production in children at age 13½ years: Project Ice Storm.

Background: Prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) is an important programming factor of postnatal immunity. We tested here the hypothesis that DNA methylation of genes in the NF-κB signaling pathway in T cells mediates the effect of objective PNMS on Th1 and Th2 cytokine production in blood from 13½ year olds who were exposed in utero to the 1998 Quebec ice storm.

Results: Bootstrapping analyses were performed with 47 CpGs across a selection of 20 genes for Th1-type cytokines (IFN-γ and IL-2) and Th2-type cytokines (IL-4 and IL-13).

Adolescent vs. adult onset of a first episode psychosis: Impact on remission of positive and negative symptoms.

Objective: Adolescent-onset psychosis has traditionally been characterized as a more severe form of psychosis with a poorer prognosis. However, it is still unclear if patients with an adolescent-onset have worse symptom remission outcomes. Symptom remission is the principal clinical outcome known to predict quality of life and social functioning in the long term.

Prenatal maternal stress predicts reductions in CD4+ lymphocytes, increases in innate-derived cytokines, and a Th2 shift in adolescents: Project Ice Storm.

The relationship between psychological stress and immunity is well established, but it is not clear if prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) affects the development of the immune system in humans. Our objective was to determine the extent of this influence in a sample of teenagers whose mothers were pregnant during the 1998 Quebec ice storm. As part of a longitudinal study of PNMS, we measured the objective stress exposure and subjective distress of the women soon after the disaster.

Prenatal maternal stress predicts autism traits in 6½ year-old children: Project Ice Storm.

Research implicates prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) as a risk factor for neurodevelopmental disorders; however few studies report PNMS effects on autism risk in offspring. We examined, prospectively, the degree to which objective and subjective elements of PNMS explained variance in autism-like traits among offspring, and tested moderating effects of sex and PNMS timing in utero. Subjects were 89 (46F/43M) children who were in utero during the 1998 Quebec Ice Storm.

Prenatal maternal stress exposure and immune function in the offspring.

The intra-uterine environment provides the first regulatory connection for the developing fetus and shapes its physiological responses in preparation for postnatal life. Psychological stress acts as a programming determinant by setting functional parameters to abnormal levels, thus inducing postnatal maladaptation. The effects of prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) on the developing immune system have been documented mostly through animal studies, but inconsistent results and methodological differences have hampered the complete understanding of these findings.

Using natural disasters to study the effects of prenatal maternal stress on child health and development.

Research on the developmental origins of health and disease highlights the plasticity of the human fetus to a host of potential teratogens. Experimental research on laboratory animals has demonstrated a variety of physical and behavioral effects among offspring exposed to prenatal maternal stress (PNMS). However, these studies cannot elucidate the relative effects of the objective stress exposure and the subjective distress in a way that would parallel the stress experience in humans.

Prenatal stress due to a natural disaster predicts insulin secretion in adolescence.

Prenatal stress might increase cardiometabolic disease risk. We measured prenatal stress due to an ice storm in 1998, and measured glucose tolerance among a subsample of 32 exposed adolescents in 2011. Severity of stress was positively associated with insulin secretion, suggesting that prenatal stress independently predicts metabolic outcomes in adolescence.

Brief communication: prenatal and early postnatal stress exposure influences long bone length in adult rat offspring.

Stress during the prenatal and early postnatal periods (perinatal stress, PS) is known to impact offspring cognitive, behavioral, and physical development, but effects on skeletal growth are not clear. Our objective was to analyze effects of variable, mild, daily PS exposure on adult offspring long bone length. Twelve pregnant rat dams were randomly assigned to receive variable stress from gestational days 14-21 (Prenatal group), postpartum days 2-9 (Postnatal), both periods (Pre-Post), or no stress (Control).