The mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with and without depressive, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorders: a longitudinal study of three Dutch case-control cohorts.

Background: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in people with pre-existing mental health disorders is unclear. In three psychiatry case-control cohorts, we compared the perceived mental health impact and coping and changes in depressive symptoms, anxiety, worry, and loneliness before and during the COVID-19 pandemic between people with and without lifetime depressive, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorders.

Methods: Between April 1 and May 13, 2020, online questionnaires were distributed among the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety, Netherlands Study of Depression in Older Persons, and Netherlands Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Association cohorts, including people with (n=1181) and without (n=336) depressive, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorders.

Digital phenotyping and the COVID-19 pandemic: Capturing behavioral change in patients with psychiatric disorders.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented societal changes limiting us in our mobility and our ability to connect with others in person. These unusual but widespread changes provide a unique opportunity for studies using digital phenotyping tools. Digital phenotyping tools, such as mobile passive monitoring platforms (MPM), provide a new perspective on human behavior and hold promise to improve human behavioral research.

Association of Insulin Resistance With Depression Severity and Remission Status: Defining a Metabolic Endophenotype of Depression.

This study investigates whether insulin resistance was positively associated with the presence, severity, or chronicity of major depression.

Novel neuronal surface autoantibodies in plasma of patients with depression and anxiety.

Neuronal surface autoantibodies (NSAbs) against various antigens cause autoimmune encephalitis. Some of these antigens are also involved in the pathology of depression and anxiety. To study whether NSAbs are more common in plasma of individuals with depression and anxiety than in controls, and to investigate if NSAbs correlate with disease status, plasma samples of 819 individuals with a current diagnosis of depression and/or anxiety, 920 in remission and 492 individuals without these disorders were included in this study.

Effect of disease related biases on the subjective assessment of social functioning in Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia patients.

Background: Questionnaires are the current hallmark for quantifying social functioning in human clinical research. In this study, we compared self- and proxy-rated (caregiver and researcher) assessments of social functioning in Schizophrenia (SZ) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and evaluated if the discrepancy between the two assessments is mediated by disease-related factors such as symptom severity.

Methods: We selected five items from the WHO Disability Assessment Schedule 2.

Sleep characteristics across the lifespan in 1.1 million people from the Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

We aimed to obtain reliable reference charts for sleep duration, estimate the prevalence of sleep complaints across the lifespan and identify risk indicators of poor sleep. Studies were identified through systematic literature search in Embase, Medline and Web of Science (9 August 2019) and through personal contacts. Eligible studies had to be published between 2000 and 2017 with data on sleep assessed with questionnaires including ≥100 participants from the general population.

Duration of anxiety disorder and its associated risk indicators: Results of a longitudinal study of the general population.

Background: Data on episode duration of anxiety disorders are required for informing patients and for disease management, but such data from population studies are lacking.

Methods: Three-year longitudinal data were used from the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study-2, a psychiatric epidemiological cohort study among the general adult population (N = 6646). Respondents with a new (first or recurrent) anxiety disorder were selected (n = 158).

Associations of Non-Alcoholic Beverages with Major Depressive Disorder History and Depressive Symptoms Clusters in a Sample of Overweight Adults.

Background: Meta-analysis of observational studies concluded that soft drinks may increase the risk of depression, while high consumption of coffee and tea may reduce the risk. Objectives were to explore the associations between the consumption of soft drinks, coffee or tea and: (1) a history of major depressive disorder (MDD) and (2) the severity of depressive symptoms clusters (mood, cognitive and somatic/vegetative symptoms).

Methods: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis based on baseline and 12-month-follow-up data collected from four countries participating in the European MooDFOOD prevention trial.

Metabolic Age Based on the BBMRI-NL H-NMR Metabolomics Repository as Biomarker of Age-related Disease.

Background: The blood metabolome incorporates cues from the environment and the host's genetic background, potentially offering a holistic view of an individual's health status.

Methods: We have compiled a vast resource of proton nuclear magnetic resonance metabolomics and phenotypic data encompassing over 25 000 samples derived from 26 community and hospital-based cohorts.

Results: Using this resource, we constructed a metabolomics-based age predictor (metaboAge) to calculate an individual's biological age.

Cortical thickness and resting-state cardiac function across the lifespan: A cross-sectional pooled mega-analysis.

Understanding the association between autonomic nervous system [ANS] function and brain morphology across the lifespan provides important insights into neurovisceral mechanisms underlying health and disease. Resting-state ANS activity, indexed by measures of heart rate [HR] and its variability [HRV] has been associated with brain morphology, particularly cortical thickness [CT]. While findings have been mixed regarding the anatomical distribution and direction of the associations, these inconsistencies may be due to sex and age differences in HR/HRV and CT.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) as a neglected metabolic companion of psychiatric disorders: common pathways and future approaches.

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is characterized by hepatic steatosis in over 5% of the parenchyma in the absence of excessive alcohol consumption. It is more prevalent in patients with diverse mental disorders, being part of the comorbidity driving loss of life expectancy and quality of life, yet remains a neglected entity. NAFLD can progress to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and increases the risk for cirrhosis and hepatic carcinoma.

Genome-wide association study identifies 48 common genetic variants associated with handedness.

Handedness has been extensively studied because of its relationship with language and the over-representation of left-handers in some neurodevelopmental disorders. Using data from the UK Biobank, 23andMe and the International Handedness Consortium, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of handedness (N = 1,766,671). We found 41 loci associated (P < 5 × 10) with left-handedness and 7 associated with ambidexterity.

Comorbidity between depression and anxiety: assessing the role of bridge mental states in dynamic psychological networks.

Background: Comorbidity between depressive and anxiety disorders is common. A hypothesis of the network perspective on psychopathology is that comorbidity arises due to the interplay of symptoms shared by both disorders, with overlapping symptoms acting as so-called bridges, funneling symptom activation between symptom clusters of each disorder. This study investigated this hypothesis by testing whether (i) two overlapping mental states "worrying" and "feeling irritated" functioned as bridges in dynamic mental state networks of individuals with both depression and anxiety as compared to individuals with either disorder alone, and (ii) overlapping or non-overlapping mental states functioned as stronger bridges.

Predictive value of implicit and explicit self-esteem for the recurrence of depression and anxiety disorders: A 3-year follow-up study.

Anxiety and depressive disorders are characterized by high rates of recurrence, substantially contributing to the high burden associated with these disorders. It is therefore crucial to identify factors related to recurrence, as they may provide viable targets for preventative intervention. Previous studies have observed a link between low self-esteem and subsequent symptoms of depression and anxiety, and low levels of self-esteem in those recovered from a depression or an anxiety disorder.

Acceptability and feasibility of two interventions in the MooDFOOD Trial: a food-related depression prevention randomised controlled trial in overweight adults with subsyndromal symptoms of depression.

Objectives: We report on the acceptability, feasibility, dose-response relationship and adherence of two nutritional strategies to improve mood (multinutrient supplements; food-related behavioural activation (F-BA)) studied in a randomised controlled depression prevention trial (the Multi-country cOllaborative project on the rOle of Diet, Food-related behaviour, and Obesity in the prevention of Depression (MooDFOOD) Trial). We also assessed baseline determinants of adherence and assessed whether better adherence resulted in lower depressive symptoms.

Design: Randomised controlled trial with a 2×2 factorial design conducted between 2015 and 2017.

Working memory moderates the relation between the brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) and psychotherapy outcome for depression.

Background: Insight into patient characteristics that predict response to treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) may help to personalize treatment and improve outcomes. One mechanism that has been linked to the success of treatment for MDD is brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF). BDNF is implicated in learning and memory and may play a role in the effects of psychotherapy that involves changing cognitions and behaviors.

Childhood trauma and dysregulation of multiple biological stress systems in adulthood: Results from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA).

Background: Childhood trauma (CT) is a risk factor for depressive and anxiety disorders. Although dysregulated biological stress systems may underlie the enduring effect of CT, the relation between CT and separate and cumulative activity of the major stress systems, namely, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis, the immune-inflammatory system, and the autonomic nervous system (ANS), remains inconclusive.

Methods: In the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA, n = 2778), we determined whether self-reported CT (as assessed by the Childhood Trauma Interview) was associated with separate and cumulative markers of the HPA-axis (cortisol awakening response, evening cortisol, dexamethasone suppression test cortisol), the immune-inflammatory system (C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α), and the ANS (heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, pre-ejection period) in adulthood.

Using Smartphones and Wearable Devices to Monitor Behavioral Changes During COVID-19.

Background: In the absence of a vaccine or effective treatment for COVID-19, countries have adopted nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as social distancing and full lockdown. An objective and quantitative means of passively monitoring the impact and response of these interventions at a local level is needed.

Objective: We aim to explore the utility of the recently developed open-source mobile health platform Remote Assessment of Disease and Relapse (RADAR)-base as a toolbox to rapidly test the effect and response to NPIs intended to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Supplementation-induced increase in circulating omega-3 serum levels is not associated with a reduction in depressive symptoms: Results from the MooDFOOD depression prevention trial.

Background: There is ambiguity on how omega-3 (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are associated with depression, and what the temporality of the association might be. The present study aimed to examine whether (intervention-induced changes in) n-3 PUFA levels were associated with (changes in) depressive symptoms.

Methods: Baseline, 6- and 12-month follow-up data on 682 overweight and subclinically depressed persons from four European countries that participated in the MooDFOOD depression prevention randomized controlled trial were used.

Exercise interventions for the prevention of depression: a systematic review of meta-analyses.

Background: Exercise may be a promising target for depression interventions. However, evidence for a beneficial effect of exercise interventions on the prevention of depression differs substantially across different studies.

Methods: A systematic search was performed up to July 2018 using PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, and Cochrane.

Effects of food-related behavioral activation therapy on eating styles, diet quality and body weight change: Results from the MooDFOOD Randomized Clinical Trial.

Objective: Depression and obesity are bi-directionally related, eating styles and diet quality are two important factors associated with both. It remains uncertain if and how these two factors can be modified. Therefore the current study aims to investigate whether food-related behavioral activation therapy (F-BA), targeting mood, dietary habits and food related behavior, can improve eating styles, and diet quality and reduce body weight in adults with overweight or obesity and subsyndromal depressive symptoms.