Patient-sharing networks among Finnish primary healthcare professionals taking care of patients with mental health or substance use problems: a register study.

Objectives: Patient-sharing networks based on administrative data are used to understand the organisation of healthcare. We examined the patient-sharing networks between different professionals taking care of patients with mental health or substance use problems.

Design: Register study based on the Register of Primary Health Care visits (Avohilmo) that covers all outpatient primary health care visits in Finland.

General medical comorbidities in psychotic disorders in the Finnish SUPER study.

Schizophrenia (SZ), schizoaffective disorder (SZA), bipolar disorder (BD), and psychotic depression (PD) are associated with premature death due to preventable general medical comorbidities (GMCs). The interaction between psychosis, risk factors, and GMCs is complex and should be elucidated. More research particularly among those with SZA or PD is warranted.

Patient-Reported Experience Measures for In- and Outpatients in Mental Health and Substance Use Services: Psychometric Properties and Results From a Nationwide Survey in Finland.

Objectives: We implemented the first national patient experience survey, with novel patient-reported experience measures (PREMs), in out- and inpatient mental health and substance use services in Finland.

Methods: The Outpatient Experience Scale (OPES) and the Inpatient Experience Scale (IPES) were co-designed with experts by experience and professionals. The survey was carried out in 2021 in 435 treatment facilities.

Multimodal prediction of the need of clozapine in treatment resistant schizophrenia; a pilot study in first-episode psychosis.

As many as one third of the patients diagnosed with schizophrenia do not respond to first-line antipsychotic medication. This group may benefit from the atypical antipsychotic medication clozapine, but initiation of treatment is often delayed, which may worsen prognosis. Predicting which patients do not respond to traditional antipsychotic medication at the onset of symptoms would provide fast-tracked treatment for this group of patients.

Traumatic life events as predictors for depression in middle-aged men and women: A Finnish twin study.

Background: We examined exposure to adulthood traumatic life events (TLEs) and their associations with depression in women and men. Then we examined whether those associations are independent of exposure loading and vulnerability including familial confounding.

Methods: The fourth survey in 2011 of the population-based Finnish Twin Cohort had 8410 participants (45 % men, mean age 60 years).

Effects of childhood adversities on alexithymia features vary between sexes. Results of a prospective population study.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) associate with various mental disorders, including personality features. Our understanding of how ACEs influence alexithymia features in the general population is limited. In a prospective population setting, we studied whether ACEs associate with alexithymia, and the role of sex and emotional symptoms in this association.

Psychosis metabolic risk calculator (PsyMetRiC) in early psychosis: External validation study in Finland.

Introduction: Accurate detection of cardiometabolic risk in early psychosis is crucial to reducing somatic morbidity and mortality in people with psychotic disorders. We conducted an external validation of the psychosis metabolic risk calculator (PsyMetRiC), a cardiometabolic risk prediction tool developed in the UK and tailored for young people with psychosis. We compared the predictive accuracy and clinical usefulness of PsyMetRiC and a general population-based risk prediction tool for type 2 diabetes, the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC).

Psychotherapy use among migrants: a register-based longitudinal study.

Background: Migrants use less mental health services compared with non-migrant populations, but there is very little information on the use of long-term psychotherapy among migrants. Finnish register data allow for studying the whole migrant population in Finland and collecting data on all publicly supported rehabilitative psychotherapy.

Methods: This study is based on a sample of migrants (n=185 605) and Finnish-born controls (n=185 605).

Estimating risk of loneliness in adulthood using survey-based prediction models: A cohort study.

It is widely accepted that loneliness is associated with health problems, but less is known about the predictors of loneliness. In this study, we constructed a model to predict individual risk of loneliness during adulthood. Data were from the prospective population-based FinHealth cohort study with 3444 participants (mean age 55.

Mental health after the COVID-19 pandemic among Finnish youth: a repeated, cross-sectional, population-based study.

Background: High levels of mental health problems among young people were reported during the COVID-19 pandemic, but studies of the post-pandemic period are scarce. We assessed mental health problems among Finnish youth before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic using nationwide population-based samples. Our aim was to examine in which direction the heightened levels of adolescent mental health problems have developed after the pandemic.

Factors contributing to readmission in patients with psychotic disorders, with a special reference to first follow-up visit in outpatient care.

Background: Timely outpatient follow-up and readmission after discharge are common quality indicators in psychiatric care, but their association varies in previous research. We aimed to examine whether the impact of outpatient follow-up and other factors on readmission risk evolves over time in people with non-affective psychotic disorder (NAP).

Methods: The Finnish Quality of Care Register includes all people diagnosed with NAP since January 2010.

Antipsychotic medications and sleep problems in patients with schizophrenia.

Background: Sleep problems are common and related to a worse quality of life in patients with schizophrenia. Almost all patients with schizophrenia use antipsychotic medications, which usually increase sleep. Still, the differences in subjective sleep outcomes between different antipsychotic medications are not entirely clear.

Genetic contribution to disease-course severity and progression in the SUPER-Finland study, a cohort of 10,403 individuals with psychotic disorders.

Genetic factors contribute to the susceptibility of psychotic disorders, but less is known how they affect psychotic disease-course development. Utilizing polygenic scores (PGSs) in combination with longitudinal healthcare data with decades of follow-up we investigated the contributing genetics to psychotic disease-course severity and diagnostic shifts in the SUPER-Finland study, encompassing 10 403 genotyped individuals with a psychotic disorder. To longitudinally track the study participants' past disease-course severity, we created a psychiatric hospitalization burden metric using the full-coverage and nation-wide Finnish in-hospital registry (data from 1969 and onwards).

Genetic contribution to microglial activation in schizophrenia.

Several lines of evidence indicate the involvement of neuroinflammatory processes in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia (SCZ). Microglia are brain resident immune cells responding toward invading pathogens and injury-related products, and additionally, have a critical role in improving neurogenesis and synaptic functions. Aberrant activation of microglia in SCZ is one of the leading hypotheses for disease pathogenesis, but due to the lack of proper human cell models, the role of microglia in SCZ is not well studied.

Association of antidepressant and benzodiazepine use, and anticholinergic burden with cognitive performance in schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is characterized by cognitive impairment affecting everyday functioning. Earlier research has hypothesized that antidepressants may associate with better cognitive functioning, but results are mixed. This study explored the association between antidepressant use and cognitive performance in terms of reaction time and visual learning in a clinical sample.

Enhancing identification of nonaffective psychosis in register-based studies.

The Finnish Quality of Psychosis Care Register assesses nonaffective psychosis (NAP) care, acknowledging treatment outside specialized psychiatric services. This approach, while providing a holistic view, raises concerns about diagnostic inaccuracies. Here, we studied situations where the register-based diagnosis might be inaccurate, and whether the first episode can be reliably identified using a 14-year wash-out period.

Life-Course Associations Between Smoking and Depressive Symptoms. A 30-Year Finnish Follow-up Study.

Introduction: Relatively little is known about whether the association between smoking and depressive symptoms changes with age and how the trajectories of smoking and depressive symptoms are intertwined during the life course. In this population-based study, these associations were examined from young adulthood to middle age.

Methods: Participants of a Finnish cohort study (N = 1955) were assessed at the ages of 22, 32, 42, and 52 using questionnaires covering daily smoking (yes/no) and the short 13-item Beck Depression Inventory.

Dysregulation of Microbiota in Patients With First-Episode Psychosis Is Associated With Symptom Severity and Treatment Response.

Background: The gut microbiome has been implicated in the pathogenesis of mental disorders where the gut-brain axis acts as a bidirectional communication network.

Methods: Herein, we investigated the compositional and functional differences of gut microbiome between patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) (n = 26) and healthy control participants (n = 22) using whole-genome shotgun sequencing. In addition, we assessed the oral microbiome in patients with FEP (n = 13) and listed their taxonomic diversity.

Sense of mastery in first-episode psychosis-a one-year follow-up study.

Introduction: A sense of mastery refers to beliefs about having control over one's life and has been found to protect health and buffer the effect of stressful experiences.

Methods: We investigated sense of mastery in first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients and population controls at baseline and at one-year follow-up. Pearlin and Schooler's Sense of Mastery scale was completed by 322 participants at baseline and by 184 participants at follow-up.

FreeSurfer 7 quality control: Key problem areas and importance of manual corrections.

We have studied the effects of manual quality control of brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) images processed with Freesurfer. T1 images of first episode psychosis patients (N = 60) and healthy controls (N = 41) were inspected for gray matter boundary errors. The errors were fixed, and the effects of error correction on brain volume, thickness, and surface area were measured.

Lack of guidelines and translational knowledge is hindering the implementation of psychiatric genetic counseling and testing within Europe - A multi-professional survey study.

Genetic research has identified a large number of genetic variants, both rare and common, underlying neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) and major psychiatric disorders. Currently, these findings are being translated into clinical practice. However, there is a lack of knowledge and guidelines for psychiatric genetic testing (PsychGT) and genetic counseling (PsychGC).