Mental health help-seeking behaviours among children and young people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities in a multicultural urban Australian population.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the help-seeking behaviours among children and young people (CYP) from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds for mental health (MH) needs in a multicultural Australian population.

Methods: We analysed the electronic medical records (eMR) of 8135 MH-related emergency department (ED) encounters of CYP aged up to 18 years across six public hospitals in the South Western Sydney Local Health District, Australia, from January 2016 to April 2022. Urgency of MH care was grouped into high priority (triage categories 1 and 2, needing to have treatment within 10 minutes) and low-to-moderate (triage categories 3-5, needing to have treatment within 30-120 minutes) presentations.

The Association Between In Utero Exposure to Painkillers and Trajectories of Hyperactivity and Emotional Problems in Children with Autism Compared with Neurotypical Peers.

: In utero exposure to painkillers has raised concerns regarding its potential impact on neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study investigates the association between in utero exposure to painkillers and trajectories of hyperactivity and emotional problems in children with and without ASD, separately. Data were drawn from 5107 participants enrolled in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.

Evaluating the Link between Visual Attention Bias and Emotion Dysregulation of Young Children.

The ability to regulate emotions is vital to successful social interactions. This study explores whether visual attention bias is associated with emotion dysregulation (ED) in early childhood. Parental reports of child ED (Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and Temper Tantrum Scale) were examined in relation to child visual attention bias whilst viewing emotional faces.

Family member and service provider experiences and perspectives of a digital surveillance and service navigation approach in multicultural context: a qualitative study in identifying the barriers and enablers to Watch Me Grow-Electronic (WMG-E) program with a culturally diverse community.

Background: Children and families from priority populations experienced significant psychosocial and mental health issues to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet they also faced significant barriers to service access, particularly families from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. With most child and family health nurse clinics ceasing in-person consultations due to the pandemic, many children missed out on health and developmental checks.

Sex Differences in the Broad Autism Phenotype: Insights from the Australian Biobank.

Examining sub-threshold autistic traits in non-autistic first-degree relatives of individuals on the autism spectrum, known as the Broad Autism Phenotype (BAP), could provide new insights into the associations and familial aggregation of autistic traits. This study was a retrospective cross-sectional study of parents (n = 1008), probands with autism (n = 613), and unaffected siblings (n = 221) of probands with autism. BAP traits were examined by the BAP Questionnaire and Communication Checklist-Adult in parents, Autism Developmental Observation Scale-Second edition in probands, and Social Responsiveness Scale in siblings.

The relationship between hair cortisol concentration and autism diagnosis.

Background: Autistic children are prone to experience heightened levels of distress and physiological reactivity to a range of sensory, social, and emotional stimuli. In line with this, multiple studies have demonstrated that autistic children have higher acute cortisol stress responses to adverse or threatening stimuli and altered cortisol awakening responses. However, few studies have examined whether this sensitivity may relate to heightened levels of chronic stress and persistently elevated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity.

A primer on the use of machine learning to distil knowledge from data in biological psychiatry.

Applications of machine learning in the biomedical sciences are growing rapidly. This growth has been spurred by diverse cross-institutional and interdisciplinary collaborations, public availability of large datasets, an increase in the accessibility of analytic routines, and the availability of powerful computing resources. With this increased access and exposure to machine learning comes a responsibility for education and a deeper understanding of its bases and bounds, borne equally by data scientists seeking to ply their analytic wares in medical research and by biomedical scientists seeking to harness such methods to glean knowledge from data.

Effectiveness of lifestyle interventions for improving the physical health of children and adolescents taking antipsychotic medications: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Children and adolescents are increasingly prescribed antipsychotic medications off-label in the treatment of behavioural disorders. While antipsychotic medications are effective in managing behavioural issues, they carry a significant risk of adverse events that compromise ongoing physical health. Of particular concern is the negative impact antipsychotic medications have on cardiometabolic health.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children is related to maternal screen time during early childhood in Taiwan: a national prospective cohort study.

Background: It is unclear to familial screen time in early childhood is associated with the subsequent diagnosis of attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Our study is to evaluate the association between screen time during early childhood in families and the incidence of ADHD.

Methods: We conducted a population-based birth cohort study by using the Taiwan Birth Cohort Study, which recruited 24 200 mother-child pairs when children were 6 months old.

Appraising risk factors of aggression in children and adolescents at psychiatric inpatient units.

This study examined predictors of aggression and assessed whether different subgroups of children and young people (CYP) display varying risks of aggressive incidents during hospitalization. Data from 10,090 children admitted to the psychiatric inpatient units of Cincinnati Children's Hospital between April 2010 and June 2021 were analysed. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to determine significant predictors associated with aggression, followed by average marginal effects and cluster analyses to rank and establish clusters by the order of predictor importance.

A nationwide study of COVID-19 impact on mental health-related presentations among children and adolescents to primary care practices in Australia.

This study explored the impacts of COVID-19 on the mental health (MH)-related visits to general practices (GPs) among children and young people (CYP) up to 18 years of age in Australia. This study analysed national-level data captured by the NPS MedicineWise program on monthly CYP MH-related visits per 10,000 visits to GPs from January 2014 to September 2021. We considered the pre-COVID-19 period (January 2014-February 2020) and the COVID-19 period (March 2020-September 2021).

Screening for Media Use in the Emergency Department Among Young Australians: Cross-sectional Study.

Background: Research on problematic internet use has largely adhered to addiction paradigms, possibly impeding the identification of specific internet behaviors related to psychopathology. This study presents a novel approach to screening for specific problematic internet behaviors by using a new measure, the emergency department media use screener (EDMUS).

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify patterns of internet use in young people presenting with mental health concerns to the emergency department (ED), ascertain associations with their mental health, and evaluate whether the EDMUS can be used to predict subsequent ED presentations within 3 months.

COVID-19 and Pediatric Mental Health Hospitalizations.

Objectives: To analyze Australian national data to examine the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on mental health-related hospital presentations among children and adolescents during the pandemic period with restrictions, and the period after the restrictions eased.

Methods: We analyzed the monthly mental health-related inpatient admissions and emergency department (ED) attendances data from 6 large pediatric hospitals across Australia, using the Bayesian structural time series models. The COVID-19 restriction period was from March 2020 to December 2021 and the COVID-19 restriction-eased period from January to June 2022.

Genetic Pathways Associated With Sleep Problems in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Aims: Children on the autism spectrum are more likely to have sleep problems than non-autistic children. Sleep disturbance may exacerbate emotional and behavioral problems of children on the autism spectrum. A better understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying sleep disturbance provide clues to better management for this co-morbid condition in autism.

Exploring Potential Modifiers of the Association Between Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Risk of Bullying Exposure.

This survey study examines data from the National Survey of Children’s Health to determine which sociodemographic factors might modify the association between neurodevelopmental disorders and being bullied.

Clinical and behavioral attributes leading to sleep disorders in children on the autism spectrum.

Sleep disorders are a common comorbid condition in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder ("autism"). However, the relationship between the clinical features of autism and sleep disorders remains unclear. A better understanding of the inherent autism-related characteristics linked to comorbid sleep disorders would improve comprehensive assessment and management.