Factors associated with acute fatigue in primary care.

Background: To examine the role of psychological distress, negative life events, social support and lack of fitness (using breathlessness on exertion as a proxy) in the development of new onset fatigue in a primary care population.

Method: Adults between the ages of 18 and 45 years who were registered with five general practices in South East England were asked to complete a fatigue questionnaire and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. Between 1 and 12 months later, subjects who visited the general practitioner (GP) with a suspected viral infection were recruited to the study and asked to complete measures of fatigue, psychological distress, life events, social support and allergies (stage 2).

Temperamental activation and inhibition associated with autonomic function in preadolescents. The TRAILS study.

We investigated the temperamental traits high-intensity pleasure (temperamental activation) and shyness (temperamental inhibition) in relation to autonomic function as measured by heart rate (HR), respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) in 938 10-13-year-old preadolescents from a population cohort. Temperament was evaluated by parent reports on the Revised Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire. Autonomic measurements were obtained in supine and standing position.

Development and validation of an international risk prediction algorithm for episodes of major depression in general practice attendees: the PredictD study.

Context: Strategies for prevention of depression are hindered by lack of evidence about the combined predictive effect of known risk factors.

Objectives: To develop a risk algorithm for onset of major depression.

Design: Cohort of adult general practice attendees followed up at 6 and 12 months.

Prevalence of common mental disorders in general practice attendees across Europe.

Background: There is evidence that the prevalence of common mental disorders varies across Europe.

Aims: To compare prevalence of common mental disorders in general practice attendees in six European countries.

Method: Unselected attendees to general practices in the UK, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Estonia and The Netherlands were assessed for major depression, panic syndrome and other anxiety syndrome.

The association between neuroticism and self-reported common somatic symptoms in a population cohort.

Objective: To test the hypotheses that (1) neuroticism is associated with self-reported somatic symptoms; (2) this association is especially found with regard to psychosomatic symptoms; and (3) it is not solemnly explained by somatic reflections of psychological distress.

Methods: We studied the cross-sectional association between neuroticism (as measured by EPQ-RSS-N), psychological distress (as measured by GHQ-12 sum score), and the occurrence of 22 common somatic symptoms by linear and logistic regression analyses in a population cohort of 6894 participants.

Results: Neuroticism is more strongly associated with the total number of somatic symptoms reported (beta=.

Externalizing and internalizing problems in relation to autonomic function: a population-based study in preadolescents.

Objective: To investigate whether externalizing and internalizing problems are related to lower and higher heart rate (HR), respectively, and to explore the relationship of these problems with respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and baroreflex sensitivity (BRS). Moreover, to study whether problems present at both preschool and preadolescent age show stronger associations with autonomic function than those that were not.

Method: In a population cohort of 10- to 13-year-old children (N = 931; 11.

Accident proneness, does it exist? A review and meta-analysis.

Accident related health problems have been suggested to cluster within persons. This phenomenon became known as accident proneness and has been a subject of many discussions. This study provides an overview of accident proneness.

Genetic influences on baroreflex sensitivity during rest and mental stress.

Objective: Baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) is a predictor of cardiovascular mortality and an indicator of sympathetic and parasympathetic autonomic regulation. Although the BRS is influenced by genetic factors, the evidence is limited, and it is unknown whether contributions of genes and environment to individual variation in BRS differ during rest and mental stress conditions.

Design And Methods: In 250 female twins, electrocardiogram and continuous finger blood pressure (BP) were assessed during two rest and two mental stress conditions.

Psychiatric morbidity is related to a chain of prenatal and perinatal adversities.

Background: Most studies on the effects of early risk factors on future mental health focus on specific obstetric complications as risk factors for specific disorders. However, obstetric complications rarely occur in isolation, and the same holds for psychiatric problems.

Aims: To study prenatal and perinatal risk factors for psychiatric multimorbidity in early adulthood and to determine whether these differ from risk factors for monomorbidity.

Spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity in (pre)adolescents.

Objective: To present normal spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) values and investigate the influence of posture, sex, age, pubertal stage, body mass index (BMI), and physical activity level on BRS in (pre)adolescents. BRS is a sensitive measure of both sympathetic and parasympathetic cardiovascular regulation that may help detect early subclinical autonomic dysfunction.

Design: A cross-sectional cohort study in a large sample of 10-13-year-old Dutch (pre)adolescents from the general population.

Prediction of depression in European general practice attendees: the PREDICT study.

Background: Prevention of depression must address multiple risk factors. Estimating overall risk across a range of putative risk factors is fundamental to prevention of depression. However, we lack reliable and valid methods of risk estimation.

Posttraumatic stress disorder following preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in connection with pregnancy was first described in the 1990s--initially in relation to childbirth but later more specifically to the mode of delivery. Instrumental vaginal delivery carries the highest risk of PTSD followed by emergency caesarean section and normal spontaneous delivery. Loss of pregnancy, spontaneous abortion or intrauterine death for example can also lead to PTSD.

Obstetric optimality and emotional problems and substance use in young adulthood.

Background: Pregnancy and delivery are complex processes, and isolated obstetric complications rare and often accompanied or followed by a number of others.

Aims: To study the relationship between the overall obstetric situation (as opposed to single obstetric risk factors) and emotional and substance use disorders in young adulthood, and to analyse whether these links are mediated by temperaments in childhood.

Study Design: In a prospective birth cohort (n=3162), questionnaires were sent to mothers and teachers when the child was 7-10 years old, and to the children when they were 20-25 years old.

Neuroticism, a central link between somatic and psychiatric morbidity: path analysis of prospective data.

Background: Neuroticism and somatic complaints are linked, and the aim of this study is to disentangle which mechanisms may be responsible for this association.

Method: In a stratified sample of 7076 adults (18-65 years), neuroticism, 22 self-reported chronic somatic conditions and five broad CIDI-diagnosed psychiatric syndromes were assessed at baseline and, in 3625 (51%) subjects, 3 years later. Using path analysis we examined whether neuroticism has direct links with future somatic morbidity and, conversely, whether morbidity at baseline is linked with higher neuroticism later on.

Effect of antenatal exposure to maternal smoking on behavioural problems and academic achievement in childhood: prospective evidence from a Dutch birth cohort.

Aim: To examine effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy on academic achievement and emotional and behavioural problems during childhood.

Methods: Least squares regression was used to examine associations between maternal smoking prior to delivery and subsequent academic performance and behaviour of 1186 children aged 5.5-11 years.

Positive life change and remission of non-psychotic mental illness. A competing outcomes approach.

Background: Episode duration in non-psychotic mental illness is associated with personal characteristics of patients, like age or personality. Part of these links may be mediated by life change, a predictor of episode duration in its own right.

Methods: In 170 primary care patients who suffered 4171 person-months of non-psychotic mental illness diagnosed according to Bedford College Criteria, we examined to what extent associations with episode duration of nine person-linked variables including personal vulnerability, coping styles and social support, are mediated by their effects on the occurrence, during episodes, of positive life changes (PLC) assessed using the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule.