Publications by authors named "Gayer-Anderson C"

Objectives: To establish whether the risk of psychotic disorders in cannabis users changes with time following cannabis cessation using data from the European Network of National Networks studying Gene-Environment Interactions in Schizophrenia (EU-GEI) case-control study.

Methods: The EU-GEI case-control study collected data from first episode psychosis patients and population controls across sites in Europe and Brazil between May 2010 and April 2015. Adjusted logistic regressions were applied to examine whether the odd of psychosis case status changed: (1) with time following cannabis cessation and (2) across different cannabis use groups.

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Background: Multiple genetic and environmental risk factors play a role in the development of both schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and affective psychoses. How they act in combination is yet to be clarified.

Methods: We analyzed 573 first episode psychosis cases and 1005 controls, of European ancestry.

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Background: The association between cannabis and psychosis is established, but the role of underlying genetics is unclear. We used data from the EU-GEI case-control study and UK Biobank to examine the independent and combined effect of heavy cannabis use and schizophrenia polygenic risk score (PRS) on risk for psychosis.

Methods: Genome-wide association study summary statistics from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium and the Genomic Psychiatry Cohort were used to calculate schizophrenia and cannabis use disorder (CUD) PRS for 1098 participants from the EU-GEI study and 143600 from the UK Biobank.

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Background: Cannabis use and familial vulnerability to psychosis have been associated with social cognition deficits. This study examined the potential relationship between cannabis use and cognitive biases underlying social cognition and functioning in patients with first episode psychosis (FEP), their siblings, and controls.

Methods: We analyzed a sample of 543 participants with FEP, 203 siblings, and 1168 controls from the EU-GEI study using a correlational design.

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Objective: Bullying has consistently been highlighted as a risk factor for youth self-harm. Less is known about associations by bullying sub-type (i.e.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates the link between urban living conditions (urbanicity) and schizotypy, a potential precursor to psychosis, suggesting this relationship varies significantly between North-western and Southern Europe.
  • - Researchers assessed 1080 individuals across 14 sites in both regions, measuring urbanicity through local population density and controlling for factors like age and childhood experiences.
  • - Findings reveal that higher population density is strongly associated with increased schizotypy in North-western Europe, while the effect is notably weaker in Southern Europe, indicating that urbanization’s impact on mental health is not uniform across different contexts.
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Childhood adversity is associated with various clinical dimensions in psychosis; however, how genetic vulnerability shapes the adversity-associated psychopathological signature is yet to be studied. We studied data of 583 First Episode Psychosis (FEP) cases from the EU-GEI FEP case-control study, including Polygenic risk scores for major depressive disorder (MDD-PRS), bipolar disorder (BD-PRS) and schizophrenia (SZ-PRS); childhood adversity measured with the total score of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ); and positive, negative, depressive and manic psychopathological domains from a factor model of transdiagnostic dimensions. Genes and environment interactions were explored as a departure from a multiplicative effect of PRSs and total CTQ on each dimension.

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  • The study investigates how current cannabis use and high-potency cannabis affect DNA methylation patterns in individuals experiencing first-episode psychosis (FEP), comparing them to non-users.
  • Researchers analyzed blood samples from 682 participants, identifying a significant CpG site associated with cannabis use that could influence mental health through epigenetic changes.
  • Findings suggest cannabis use affects genes related to immune and mitochondrial functions, with implications for understanding how cannabis may impact mental health, especially in those with psychosis.
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Purpose: Paranoid ideation is common among adolescents, yet little is known about the precursors. Using a novel immersive virtual reality (VR) paradigm, we tested whether experiences of bullying, and other interpersonal/threatening events, are associated with paranoid ideation to a greater degree than other types of (i) non-interpersonal events or (ii) adverse childhood experiences.

Methods: Self-reported exposure to adverse life events and bullying was collected on 481 adolescents, aged 11-15.

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  • The study investigates the relationship between setting-level deprivation and cannabis use in affecting the incidence of first-episode psychotic disorders (FEP).
  • Researchers used data from 14 settings in the EU-GEI study to analyze how factors like owner-occupancy and daily cannabis use correlate with FEP incidence among individuals aged 18-64.
  • Findings revealed that lower owner-occupancy rates were linked to higher rates of psychosis, while daily cannabis use was specifically associated with affective psychoses, suggesting environmental factors play a significant role in psychotic disorder incidence.
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Background: We examined whether cannabis use contributes to the increased risk of psychotic disorder for non-western minorities in Europe.

Methods: We used data from the EU-GEI study (collected at sites in Spain, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands) on 825 first-episode patients and 1026 controls. We estimated the odds ratio (OR) of psychotic disorder for several groups of migrants compared with the local reference population, without and with adjustment for measures of cannabis use.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates the variation of subclinical psychosis (SP) measures, such as schizotypy and psychotic-like experiences (PLEs), across different geographic regions and how this correlates with the incidence of first-episode psychosis (FEP) in those areas.
  • - Through analysis of data from 1497 controls in 16 sites across 6 countries, researchers found that schizotypy showed significant variation related to site characteristics, while PLEs exhibited less variation; local incidences of FEP were associated with reduced unexplained variance in schizotypy.
  • - Findings highlight that younger, migrant, unmarried, unemployed, and less educated individuals, along with factors like cannabis use and childhood adversity, are linked to SP
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Background: Childhood adversity and cannabis use are considered independent risk factors for psychosis, but whether different patterns of cannabis use may be acting as mediator between adversity and psychotic disorders has not yet been explored. The aim of this study is to examine whether cannabis use mediates the relationship between childhood adversity and psychosis.

Methods: Data were utilised on 881 first-episode psychosis patients and 1231 controls from the European network of national schizophrenia networks studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) study.

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Article Synopsis
  • Illegal stimulant use is linked to a higher risk of first-episode psychosis (FEP), with 14.5% of patients experiencing FEP reporting lifetime stimulant use compared to 10.8% of controls.
  • The study analyzed 1,130 FEP patients and 1,497 controls across Europe and Brazil, using logistic regression to determine the relationship between stimulant use and FEP risk.
  • Findings suggest that eliminating stimulant use could potentially prevent 3.35% to 7.61% of FEP cases, indicating a significant public health concern that varies by country.
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This study investigated if the association between childhood maltreatment and cognition among psychosis patients and community controls was partially accounted for by genetic liability for psychosis. Patients with first-episode psychosis (N = 755) and unaffected controls (N = 1219) from the EU-GEI study were assessed for childhood maltreatment, intelligence quotient (IQ), family history of psychosis (FH), and polygenic risk score for schizophrenia (SZ-PRS). Controlling for FH and SZ-PRS did not attenuate the association between childhood maltreatment and IQ in cases or controls.

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Background: A history of childhood adversity is associated with psychotic disorder, with an increase in risk according to the number of exposures. However, it is not known why only some exposed individuals go on to develop psychosis. One possibility is pre-existing polygenic vulnerability.

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Background: While cannabis use is a well-established risk factor for psychosis, little is known about any association between reasons for first using cannabis (RFUC) and later patterns of use and risk of psychosis.

Methods: We used data from 11 sites of the multicentre European Gene-Environment Interaction (EU-GEI) case-control study. 558 first-episode psychosis patients (FEPp) and 567 population controls who had used cannabis and reported their RFUC.

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Article Synopsis
  • Studies suggest that DNA-methylation (DNAm) may be influenced by childhood adversity (CA) and could play a role in the development of psychotic disorders, although the specific mediating effects remain unexplored.
  • Researchers conducted an epigenome-wide association study comparing first-episode psychosis patients (n=366) to healthy controls (n=517) using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire to create adversity scores, but found that no specific CpG sites significantly mediated the relationship between CA and psychosis after statistical corrections.
  • While several genes showed differential methylation related to CA, and previous studies linked some of these genes to psychosis, the analysis did not identify conclusive biological pathways, hinting at potential factors such as mitochondrial
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Article Synopsis
  • - The study developed and validated a diagnostic model to quickly identify individuals at risk for first episode psychosis (FEP) by analyzing data from 2,627 participants across six countries.
  • - A binary logistic regression model was used, incorporating 22 predictor variables, and achieved high accuracy in distinguishing between individuals with FEP and controls, with specificity and sensitivity rates indicating strong overall performance.
  • - Despite showing some signs of overfitting in certain countries, the model demonstrated good discrimination and calibration, suggesting it could be broadly applicable in diverse ethnic settings.
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Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers found that individuals from migrant backgrounds, particularly those from non-Western countries, experienced higher rates of CM and that this exposure was linked to greater incidence of FEP.
  • * The findings suggest that although migrant status weakens the direct link between CM and FEP, these groups still face a significant risk and should be targeted in policies aimed at reducing child maltreatment.
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Article Synopsis
  • This study investigated how genetic factors (specifically, polygenic risk scores for schizophrenia) interact with psychosocial stressors (like childhood trauma and discrimination) to influence the risk of subclinical psychosis in individuals without diagnosed psychotic disorders.* -
  • Researchers analyzed data from the EU-GEI study, which included European descendants, focusing on different dimensions of subclinical psychosis measured by the CAPE scale, and used various statistical models to explore these associations.* -
  • The findings revealed no significant gene-environment interactions; however, the polygenic risk score was linked to positive psychosis dimensions, while psychosocial stressors negatively impacted all subclinical dimensions.*
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Article Synopsis
  • A study examined 802 first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients and identified four distinct clusters based on their premorbid social and academic functioning and current IQ levels.* -
  • These clusters varied in their genetic risk scores for psychotic disorders and showed differing patterns of cannabis use, with one cluster having a notable connection to high-potency cannabis.* -
  • Most FEP patients did not show marked premorbid deterioration; however, the deteriorating group indicated a relationship between their decline in functioning and frequent use of high-potency cannabis.*
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