The contribution of first-episode illness characteristics and cumulative antipsychotic usage to progressive structural brain changes over a long-term follow-up in schizophrenia.

Exposure to antipsychotics as well as certain first-episode illness characteristics have been associated with greater gray matter (GM) deficits in the early phase of schizophrenia. Whether the first-episode illness characteristics affect the long-term progression of the structural brain changes remain unexplored. We therefore assessed the role of first-episode illness characteristics and life-time antipsychotic use in relation to long-term structural brain GM changes in schizophrenia.

m-RESIST, a Mobile Therapeutic Intervention for Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia: Feasibility, Acceptability, and Usability Study.

Background: In the European Union, around 5 million people are affected by psychotic disorders, and approximately 30%-50% of people with schizophrenia have treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS). Mobile health (mHealth) interventions may be effective in preventing relapses, increasing treatment adherence, and managing some of the symptoms of schizophrenia. People with schizophrenia seem willing and able to use smartphones to monitor their symptoms and engage in therapeutic interventions.

Predictors of response to pharmacological treatments in treatment-resistant schizophrenia - A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: As the burden of treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) on patients and society is high it is important to identify predictors of response to medications in TRS. The aim was to analyse whether baseline patient and study characteristics predict treatment response in TRS in drug trials.

Methods: A comprehensive search strategy completed in PubMed, Cochrane and Web of Science helped identify relevant studies.

A Method to Compare the Delivery of Psychiatric Care for People with Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia.

Introduction: Community services are gaining ground when it comes to attention to patients with psychiatric diseases. Regarding patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS), the use of information and communication technology (ICT) could help to shift the focus from hospital-centered attention to community services. This study compares the differences in mental health services provided for patients with TRS in Budapest (Hungary), Tel-Aviv (Israel) and Catalonia (Spain) by means of a method for the quick appraisal of gaps among the three places, for a potential implementation of the same ICT tool in these regions.

Inflammation, hippocampal volume, and cognition in schizophrenia: results from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966.

Increased blood interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels are a replicated abnormality in schizophrenia, and may be associated with smaller hippocampal volumes and greater cognitive impairment. These findings have not been investigated in a population-based birth cohort. The general population Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 was followed until age 43.

Early environmental factors and somatic comorbidity in schizophrenia and nonschizophrenic psychoses: A 50-year follow-up of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966.

Background: We studied the cumulative incidence of physical illnesses, and the effect of early environmental factors (EEFs) on somatic comorbidity in schizophrenia, in nonschizophrenic psychosis and among nonpsychotic controls from birth up to the age of 50 years.

Methods: The sample included 10,933 members of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966, of whom, 227 had schizophrenia and 205 had nonschizophrenic psychosis. Diagnoses concerning physical illnesses were based on nationwide registers followed up to the end of 2016 and classified into 13 illness categories.

Mobile Phone and Wearable Sensor-Based mHealth Approaches for Psychiatric Disorders and Symptoms: Systematic Review.

Background: Mobile Therapeutic Attention for Patients with Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia (m-RESIST) is an EU Horizon 2020-funded project aimed at designing and validating an innovative therapeutic program for treatment-resistant schizophrenia. The program exploits information from mobile phones and wearable sensors for behavioral tracking to support intervention administration.

Objective: To systematically review original studies on sensor-based mHealth apps aimed at uncovering associations between sensor data and symptoms of psychiatric disorders in order to support the m-RESIST approach to assess effectiveness of behavioral monitoring in therapy.

Mobile therapeutic attention for treatment-resistant schizophrenia (m-RESIST): a prospective multicentre feasibility study protocol in patients and their caregivers.

Introduction: Treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) is a severe form of schizophrenia. In the European Union, approximately 40% of people with schizophrenia have TRS. Factors such as the persistence of positive symptoms or higher risk of comorbidities leave clinicians with a complex scenario when treating these patients.

Long-term antipsychotic and benzodiazepine use and brain volume changes in schizophrenia: The Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 study.

High doses of antipsychotics have been associated with loss in cortical and total gray matter in schizophrenia. However, previous imaging studies have not taken benzodiazepine use into account, in spite of evidence suggesting adverse effects such as cognitive impairment and increased mortality. In this Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 study, 69 controls and 38 individuals with schizophrenia underwent brain MRI at the ages of 34 and 43 years.

Long-term antipsychotic use and brain changes in schizophrenia - a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: The association between long-term antipsychotic treatment and changes in brain structure in schizophrenia is unclear. Our aim was to conduct a systematic review and a meta-analysis on long-term antipsychotic effects on brain structures in schizophrenia focusing on studies with at least 2 years of follow-up between MRI scans.

Design: Studies were systematically collected using 4 databases, and we also contacted authors for unpublished data.

Association between family history of psychiatric disorders and long-term outcome in schizophrenia - The Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 study.

Family history of psychiatric disorders has been associated with impaired outcome in schizophrenia, but very few studies have investigated its long-term social and occupational outcome. We investigated the association of family history of psychiatric disorders, especially psychosis, with long-term social, occupational, clinical and global outcome in schizophrenia. The study sample comprises of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966.

Lifetime antipsychotic medication and cognitive performance in schizophrenia at age 43 years in a general population birth cohort.

This naturalistic study analysed the association between cumulative lifetime antipsychotic dose and cognition in schizophrenia after an average of 16.5 years of illness. Sixty participants with schizophrenia and 191 controls from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 were assessed at age 43 years with a neurocognitive test battery.

Do adverse perinatal events predict mortality in schizophrenia during midlife?

Background: We examined mortality in schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD) and non-schizophrenic psychosis (NSSD) compared to individuals without psychosis, and whether perinatal factors predict mortality.

Methods: Within Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (n=10 933; 203 with SSD, 178 with NSSD), mortality was followed until end of 2011 by national register. Wantedness of pregnancy, mother's antenatal depression, smoking and age, parity, paternal socio-economic status (SES) and family type at birth were examined as predictors of mortality.

Search for protective factors for psychosis - a population-based sample with special interest in unaffected individuals with parental psychosis.

Aim: To find factors that are associated with not having psychotic illness in a prospective general population sample, with a special interest in individuals with parental psychosis.

Methods: Data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (n = 10 458) and several registers were used to detect individuals with and without parental psychosis. Altogether, 594 persons had parent(s) with psychosis and 48 of them also had psychosis subsequently.

The C9ORF72 expansion sizes in patients with psychosis: a population-based study on the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966.

Patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) have many psychotic symptoms, especially at the onset of the disease. The C9ORF72 expansion is the most common genetic etiology observed with bvFTD and the prevalence of the expansion is notably high among Finnish bvFTD patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of the C9ORF72 expansion among the clearly characterized patients with psychosis, mainly schizophrenia, in early midlife.

Predictors of Long-Term Change in Adult Cognitive Performance: Systematic Review and Data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966.

Objective: Several social life events and challenges have an impact on cognitive development. Our goal was to analyze the predictors of change in cognitive performance in early midlife in a general population sample. Additionally, systematic literature review was performed.

Use of psychiatric medications in schizophrenia and other psychoses in a general population sample.

The information on the use of psychiatric medications in general population-based samples is limited. Our aim was to analyse the use of psychiatric medications and factors associated with antipsychotic use in psychoses in a general population sample. Fifty-five persons with schizophrenia, 21 with bipolar psychosis or psychotic depression and 20 with other psychoses from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 were examined at about 43 years of age.

Poor premorbid school performance, but not severity of illness, predicts cognitive decline in schizophrenia in midlife.

Neurocognitive dysfunction is common in schizophrenia but its course and determinants remain uncertain. Our aim was to analyse if premorbid school performance and the severity of illness and functioning predict change in cognition in schizophrenia in a general population sample. The sample included cases with schizophrenia spectrum disorder from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966.

Psychiatric hospital admission and long-term care in patients with very-late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis.

Objective: In this register-based study the rates and durations of psychiatric hospitalizations were compared between patients with very-late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis (VLOSLP, n = 918) and elderly patients with illness onset before 60 years (n = 6142). The proportion of patients ending up in long-term care (LTC) or long-lasting psychiatric hospital care (LLP) was also studied.

Methods: A sample of patients with schizophrenia aged 65 or over was collected from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register.

Longitudinal regional brain volume loss in schizophrenia: Relationship to antipsychotic medication and change in social function.

Background: Progressive brain volume loss in schizophrenia has been reported in previous studies but its cause and regional distribution remains unclear. We investigated progressive regional brain reductions in schizophrenia and correlations with potential mediators.

Method: Participants were drawn from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966.

Changes in verbal learning and memory in schizophrenia and non-psychotic controls in midlife: A nine-year follow-up in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort study 1966.

Findings on longitudinal change of cognitive performance in schizophrenia are extremely variable in the case of verbal learning and memory, and it is still unclear which dimensions of verbal learning and memory exhibit possible deterioration over the long-term. Our aim was to compare the change in verbal learning and memory in individuals with schizophrenia 10-20 years after the illness onset and healthy controls during a nine-year follow-up in a general population sample. Our sample included 41 schizophrenia spectrum subjects and 73 controls from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort study 1966.

Twenty Years of Schizophrenia Research in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966: A Systematic Review.

Birth cohort designs are useful in studying adult disease trajectories and outcomes, such as schizophrenia. We review the schizophrenia research performed in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (NFBC 1966), which includes 10,934 individuals living in Finland at 16 years of age who have been monitored since each mother's mid-pregnancy. By the age of 44, 150 (1.