Can the Whiteley Index be used to assess health anxiety in adolescents from the general population?

Health anxiety (HA) is characterized by worry about being or becoming ill. The Whiteley Index (WI) is a valid and frequently used measure for HA in adults. We examined item response distribution, floor and ceiling effects, and construct validity of four different one-factor models of the WI (an 8-item model, the widely used WI-7, a revised 7-item version (WI-7-R), and a 6-item version (WI-6-R)) in a population-based sample of adolescents, using data from the 16-17-year follow-up of the Copenhagen Child Cohort 2000 (N = 2521, 16-17 years old).

Exploring the course of functional somatic symptoms (FSS) from pre- to late adolescence and associated internalizing psychopathology - an observational cohort-study.

Background: Functional somatic symptoms (FSS), which commonly cannot be attributed to well-defined organic pathology, often co-occur with internalizing psychopathology and fluctuate throughout different life stages. We examined FSS courses throughout adolescence, and the association between preadolescent FSS, FSS severity and internalizing psychopathology at late adolescence.

Methods: Data from the Copenhagen Child Cohort (CCC2000) were utilized from assessments at ages 11-12 years (preadolescence; T0) and 16-17 years (late adolescence; T1).

Family healthcare patterns as a proxy for transgenerational transmission of functional somatic symptoms in early childhood - A longitudinal cohort study.

Objective: Functional somatic symptoms (FSS) accumulate within families. Exposure to family patterns of high healthcare use may induce maladaptive symptom coping and thereby potentially contribute to the transgenerational transmission of FSS. This study aimed to uncover associations between parental and child healthcare use during the child's first years of life (age 0-4) and childhood FSS at age 5-7.

Exploring the interplay between psychotic experiences, functional somatic symptoms and health anxiety in childhood and adolescence - A longitudinal cohort study.

Background: Similarities exist between contemporary explanatory models underlying psychosis development, functional somatic symptoms, and health anxiety. The current study aimed to examine the potential interplay between psychotic experiences (and alternate measures of anomalous self-experiences and aberrant attribution of salience) and functional somatic symptoms on the outcome of health anxiety in youths.

Methods: In a prospective general-population birth cohort, the Copenhagen Child Cohort 2000 (CCC2000), data from two time-points were available for 1122 individuals.

Hair cortisol and self-perceived stress in adolescents with multi-system functional somatic disorders.

Background: Long-term stress causing altered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dynamics with cortisol dysfunction may be involved in the pathophysiology of functional somatic disorders (FSD), but studies on adolescents with multi-system FSD are lacking. Therefore, we investigated: 1) whether hair cortisol concentration (HCC) differentiates adolescents with multi-system FSD from a) a population-based sample and b) a subgroup derived from the sample reporting a high physical symptom load, and 2) whether FSD population HCC is associated with primary symptom presentations and self-perceived stress.

Methods: We used data from a clinical sample with multi-system FSD (N = 91, age 15-19 years) and a population-based sample (N = 1,450, age 16-17 years) including a subgroup with top 10% total scores on physical symptoms (N = 147).

Examining psychotic experiences in two generations - findings from a rural household-based cohort study; the Lolland-Falster Health Study.

Background: Psychotic disorders are highly heritable, yet the evidence is less clear for subclinical psychosis expression, such as psychotic experiences (PEs). We examined if PEs in parents were associated with PEs in offspring.

Methods: As part of the Danish general population Lolland-Falster Health Study, families with youths aged 11-17 years were included.

Annual Research Review: Health anxiety in children and adolescents-developmental aspects and cross-generational influences.

Health anxiety involves excessive worries about one's health along with beliefs one has an illness or may contract a serious disease. Concerning evidence suggests that health anxiety is on the rise in society, possibly further fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent classification systems acknowledge that impairing health-related worries and beliefs can emerge in early childhood with significant levels of symptoms persisting throughout childhood, and possibly continuous with diagnostic considerations in adulthood.

Commentary: Mind the blip in the curve when assessing educational attainment in youths - a reflection on Wickersham et al. (2023).

Dr. Wickersham et al.'s study linked educational and health records providing important knowledge on educational trajectories in youths with mental disorders.

Effect modification of an effective transdiagnostic cognitive behavioral psychotherapy in youths with common mental health problems: Secondary analyses of the randomized mind-my-mind trial.

Mind My Mind (MMM) cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) manualized treatment is effective in the management of common emotional and behavioral mental health problems in youth, yet not all individuals respond satisfactorily to treatment. This study explored potential effect modifiers, i.e.

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This is a case report about a 13-year-old girl who presented with depression, severely reduced daily functioning, and eventually nihilistic delusions about being dead. The condition was interpreted as a presentation of Cotard syndrome as part of early-onset schizophrenia. Treatment with an antidepressant and multiple antipsychotic medications was not effective.

Brief rapport: Perceptual aberration in patients at ultra-high risk for psychosis.

Background: Ultra-high risk (UHR) is considered a forerunner of psychosis, but most UHR individuals do not later convert, yet remain symptomatic, disabled and help-seeking. Thus, there is an increased recognition of the UHR phenotype as a syndrome in itself, rather than merely a risk syndrome. It is therefore essential to investigate outcomes other than transition to psychosis.

Do psychotic experiences act as effect modifiers in youths with common mental health problems allocated to transdiagnostic cognitive behavioural therapy versus management as usual? Secondary analyses of the Mind-My-Mind randomized trial.

Background: Psychotic experiences (PEs) are common in help-seeking youths with non-psychotic mental health problems, yet the clinical importance of PEs as potential effect modifiers of psychotherapy interventions has been scarcely examined. We examined if PEs were associated with a differential response to transdiagnostic cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) aimed at common emotional and behavioural problems.

Methods: We present secondary analyses from the Mind My Mind (MMM) trial that randomized 396, 6-16-year-old youths to either 9-13 sessions of transdiagnostic modular community-based CBT (MMM) or community-based management as usual (MAU).

Can the bodily distress syndrome (BDS) concept be used to assess functional somatic symptoms in adolescence?

Objective: Bodily Distress Syndrome (BDS) represents a new research concept for adult patients with various functional somatic syndromes. We evaluated the utility of the BDS research concept and the associated BDS-25-checklist as a screening tool for diverse functional somatic symptoms (FSS) in adolescence by investigating: 1) the psychometric and factorial structures of the checklist, 2) symptom cluster patterns and 3) illness classification and associations with emotional psychopathology and sociodemographic factors.

Methods: This cross-sectional study obtained data from the 16/17-year follow-up (N = 2542) of the general population Copenhagen Child Cohort 2000 (CCC2000).

A psychometric investigation of the multiple-choice version of Animated Triangles Task to measure Theory of Mind in adolescence.

The Animated Triangles Task (AT) is commonly used to measure Theory of Mind (ToM). AT can be scored by clinicians based on participants' verbal responses (AT-verbal) or using a multiple-choice paradigm (AT-MCQ). This study aimed to evaluate the validity of the less time-consuming AT-MCQ.

Healthcare Costs, School Performance, and Health-related Quality of Life in Adolescence Following Psychotic Experiences in Preadolescence: A Longitudinal Cohort Study.

Psychotic experiences (PEs) are common in the general population in preadolescence. The implications of PEs on socioeconomic outcomes, including educational attainment, are scarcely described. We aimed to estimate how preadolescent PEs were associated with later healthcare costs, school performance, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in adolescence.

Continuity of health anxiety from childhood to adolescence and associated healthcare costs: a prospective population-based cohort study.

Background: Severe health anxiety (HA) is characterized by excessive and impairing worry and preoccupation with health issues and can cause increased and unnecessary medical examinations. HA in childhood and adolescence is scarcely explored, hindering the potential for prevention and early intervention.

Methods: HA was assessed in 1,278 children/youths at two time points at ages 11 and 16 years in a general population-based birth cohort.