Association between gestational levels of toxic metals and essential elements and cerebral palsy in children.

Introduction: Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common motor disability in childhood, but its causes are only partly known. Early-life exposure to toxic metals and inadequate or excess amounts of essential elements can adversely affect brain and nervous system development. However, little is still known about these as perinatal risk factors for CP.

Educational achievement among children with a disability: do parental resources compensate for disadvantage?

We examined the impact of child disability on Grade Points Average (GPA) using all children aged 15-16 years who completed their lower secondary education and registered with a GPA score in the period from 2016 to 2020 in Norway (n = 247 120). We use registry data that contain information on the child's main diagnosis, such as physical-, neurological- and neurodevelopmental conditions, and the severity of the condition, additional to the child's family characteristics. First, we examined whether the impact of the child's disability on the GPA scores varied by diagnosis and the severity of the child's condition.

Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Norwegian schools during academic year 2020-21: population wide, register based cohort study.

Objective: To assess the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools in Norway mainly kept open during the covid-19 pandemic in the academic year 2020-21.

Design: Population wide, register based cohort study.

Setting: Primary and lower secondary schools in Norway open during the academic year 2020-21, with strict infection prevention and control measures in place, such as organisation of students into smaller cohorts.

Developmental disorders among Norwegian-born children with immigrant parents.

Background: Risk of being diagnosed with different developmental disorders is found to vary with immigrant background. Knowledge about such differences in Norway are a starting point for equity in health services quality, and for early identification and prevention. Our objective was to assess the risk of receiving diagnoses of developmental disorders among children born in Norway (2006-2017) to two or one immigrant parent compared to children with two Norwegian-born parents.

COVID-19 Hospitalization Among Children <18 Years by Variant Wave in Norway.

Objectives: There is limited evidence on whether the relative severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in children and adolescents differs for different severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variants. We compare the risk of hospitalization to acute COVID-19 or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) among unvaccinated persons <18 years with COVID-19 (cases) between waves of the Alpha, Delta, and Omicron (sublineage BA.1) variants in Norway.

Experience with open schools and preschools in periods of high community transmission of COVID-19 in Norway during the academic year of 2020/2021.

Background: Schools and preschools have largely remained open in Norway throughout the pandemic, with flexible mitigation measures in place. This contrasts with many other high-income countries that closed schools for long periods of time. Here we describe cases and outbreaks of COVID-19 in schools and preschools during the academic year 2020/2021, to evaluate the strategy of keeping these open with infection prevention control measures in place.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental healthcare consultations among children and adolescents in Norway: a nationwide registry study.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions may have affected children and adolescent's mental health adversely. We cast light on this question using primary and specialist consultations data for the entire population of children of age 6-19 years in Norway (N = 908 272). Our outcomes are the monthly likelihood of having a consultation or hospitalization related to mental health problems and common mental health diagnoses.

Eating Disorder Diagnoses in Children and Adolescents in Norway Before vs During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This cohort study assesses trends in diagnoses of eating disorders among girls aged 6 to 16 years in Norway before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The educational burden of disease: a cohort study.

Background: Students with health disorders might be at risk of disengaging from education, which can reinforce socioeconomic inequalities in health. We aimed to evaluate the associations between 176 diseases and injuries and later school performance in Norwegian adolescents and to estimate the importance of each disorder using a novel measure for the educational burden of disease (EBoD).

Methods: We used diagnostic information from government-funded health services for all Norwegian inhabitants who were born between Jan 1, 1995, and Dec 31, 2002, were registered as living in Norway at age 11-16 years, and were participating in compulsory education.

Diagnoses of infectious diseases among Norwegian-born children to immigrant parents - the role of parental socioeconomic position.

Aims: Children of immigrants have a higher incidence of infectious disease than native children. Our aim was to assess the role of parental socioeconomic position for diagnoses of infectious disease among children of immigrants.

Methods: Data from the Norwegian Patient Registry (on diagnoses from secondary/tertiary care), Medical Birth Registry of Norway, and Statistics Norway were linked by the national personal identification number.

Risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalisation in children and adolescents in Norway: a nationwide population-based study.

Objective: To determine risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalisation among children and adolescents.

Design: Nationwide, population-based cohort study.

Setting: Norway from 1 March 2020 to 30 November 2021.

School Closure Versus Targeted Control Measures for SARS-CoV-2 Infection.

Objectives: To compare effects of school closures with effects of targeted infection prevention and control (IPC) measures in open schools on SARS-CoV-2 infection rates in students.

Methods: We conducted interrupted time-series analyses to compare trends in infection rates in grades 1-10 in 7 boroughs in Oslo, Norway, between February 15 and April 18, 2021. All schools at all levels had implemented strict IPC measures.

A nationwide school fruit and vegetable policy and childhood and adolescent overweight: A quasi-natural experimental study.

Background: School free fruit and vegetable (FFV) policies are used to promote healthy dietary habits and tackle obesity; however, our understanding of their effects on weight outcomes is limited. We assess the effect of a nationwide FFV policy on childhood and adolescent weight status and explore heterogeneity by sex and socioeconomic position.

Methods And Findings: This study used a quasi-natural experimental design.

Healthcare use in 700 000 children and adolescents for six months after covid-19: before and after register based cohort study.

Objectives: To explore whether and for how long use of healthcare services is increased among children and adolescents after covid-19.

Design: Before and after register based study.

Setting: General population of Norway.

Maternal mid-gestational and child cord blood immune signatures are strongly associated with offspring risk of ASD.

Epidemiological studies and work in animal models indicate that immune activation may be a risk factor for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). We measured levels of 60 cytokines and growth factors in 869 maternal mid-gestational (MMG) and 807 child cord blood (CB) plasma samples from 457 ASD (385 boys, 72 girls) and 497 control children (418 boys, 79 girls) from the Norwegian Autism Birth Cohort. We analyzed associations first using sex-stratified unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression models, and then employed machine learning strategies (LASSO + interactions, Random Forests, XGBoost classifiers) with cross-validation and randomly sampled test set evaluation to assess the utility of immune signatures as ASD biomarkers.

Maternal intake of folate during pregnancy and risk of cerebral palsy in the MOBAND-CP cohort.

Background: Folate prevents neural tube defects and may play a role in some neurodevelopmental disorders.

Objectives: We investigated whether higher intakes of periconceptional or midpregnancy folate, as recommended, were associated with a reduced risk of offspring cerebral palsy (CP).

Methods: We included participants from the Nordic collaboration cohort consisting of mother-child dyads in the Danish National Birth Cohort and the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study [combined as MOthers and BAbies in Norway and Denmark (MOBAND-CP)].

Variation in disease in children according to immigrant background.

Background: A growing proportion of children born in Europe are born to immigrant parents. Knowledge about their health is essential for preventive and curative medicine and health services planning.

Objective: To investigate differences in diagnoses given in secondary and tertiary healthcare between Norwegian-born children to immigrant and non-immigrant parents.

Overweight, obesity, and thinness among a nationally representative sample of Norwegian adolescents and changes from childhood: Associations with sex, region, and population density.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of overweight, obesity, and thinness among Norwegian 13-year-olds and the changes from childhood (age 8 years) to adolescence (age 13 years); and to explore associations with sex, region, and population density from childhood to adolescence.

Design: We used longitudinal, anthropometric data collected by school health nurses conducted in Norway. Weight status was classified according to the International Obesity Task Force cut-offs for overweight, obesity, and thinness, and according to mean body mass index (kg/m2).

Prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and associations with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder in children.

Background: Prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) may be a risk factor for neurodevelopmental deficits and disorders, but evidence is inconsistent.

Objectives: We investigated whether prenatal exposure to PFAS were associated with childhood diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Methods: This study was based on the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study and included n = 821 ADHD cases, n = 400 ASD cases and n = 980 controls.

Metal and essential element concentrations during pregnancy and associations with autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children.

Background: Prenatal exposure to toxic metals or variations in maternal levels of essential elements during pregnancy may be a risk factor for neurodevelopmental disorders such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in offspring.

Objectives: We investigated whether maternal levels of toxic metals and essential elements measured in mid-pregnancy, individually and as mixtures, were associated with childhood diagnosis of ADHD or ASD.

Methods: This study is based on the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study and included 705 ADHD cases, 397 ASD cases and 1034 controls.