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.

Labor market marginalization in individuals with bipolar disorder: a Swedish nationwide register-based sibling comparison study.

Background: There is a lack of large-scale studies exploring labor market marginalization (LMM) among individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BD). We aimed to investigate the association of BD with subsequent LMM in Sweden, and the effect of sex on LMM in BD.

Methods: Individuals aged 19-60 years living in Sweden with a first-time BD diagnosis between 2007 and 2016 ( = 25 231) were followed from the date of diagnosis for a maximum of 14 years.

Collaborative Outcomes Study on Health and Functioning During Infection Times (COH-FIT): Global and Risk-Group Stratified Course of Well-Being and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Adolescents.

Objective: To identify the COVID-19 pandemic impact on well-being/mental health, coping strategies, and risk factors in adolescents worldwide.

Method: This study was based on an anonymous online multi-national/multi-language survey in the general population (representative/weighted non-representative samples, 14-17 years of age), measuring change in well-being (World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index [WHO-5]/range = 0-100) and psychopathology (validated composite P-score/range = 0-100), WHO-5 <50 and <29, pre- vs during COVID-19 pandemic (April 26, 2020-June 26, 2022). Coping strategies and 9 a priori- defined individual/cumulative risk factors were measured.

Repurposing Semaglutide and Liraglutide for Alcohol Use Disorder.

Importance: Preliminary studies suggest that glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1) agonists, used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity, may decrease alcohol consumption.

Objective: To test whether the risk of hospitalization due to alcohol use disorder (AUD) is decreased during the use of GLP-1 agonists compared with periods of nonuse for the same individual.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study was an observational study conducted nationwide in Sweden using data from January 2006 to December 2023.

Comparative Effectiveness of Antipsychotics in Patients With Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder.

Importance: Antipsychotics are the cornerstone of maintenance treatment in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, but it is unclear which agents should be prioritized by prescribers.

Objective: To investigate the clinical effectiveness of antipsychotics, including recent market entries, in comparison with oral olanzapine in relapse and treatment failure prevention among individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorder.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This comparative effectiveness research study with a within-individual analysis included data from Swedish health care registers of inpatient and specialized outpatient care, sickness absence, and disability pensions among all individuals aged 16 to 65 years who were diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorder from January 1, 2006, to December 31, 2021, including an incident cohort and a prevalent cohort.

Dosing levels of antipsychotics and mood stabilizers in bipolar disorder: A Nationwide cohort study on relapse risk and treatment safety.

Background: Finding effective treatment regimens for bipolar disorder is challenging, as many patients suffer from significant symptoms despite treatment. This study investigated the risk of relapse (psychiatric hospitalization) and treatment safety (non-psychiatric hospitalization) associated with different doses of antipsychotics and mood stabilizers in persons with bipolar disorder.

Methods: Individuals aged 15-65 with bipolar disorder were identified from Finnish national health registers in 1996-2018.

Characteristics of high-dose benzodiazepine use: nationwide cohort study on new benzodiazepine users with 5-year follow-up.

Background: A nationwide register-based cohort study from Finland including 48 124 incident benzodiazepines and related drug (BZDR) users aged 18-65 years who initiated use in 2006 and were not dispensed BZDRs during 2004-2005. The follow-up was 5 years or until death, whichever occurred first.

Aims: To investigate sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with high-dose use of BZDRs (i.

Cause-specific mortality in treatment-resistant major depression: Population-based cohort study.

Background: Limited evidence-base on long-term prognosis of treatment-resistant major depression (TRD) is a barrier to clinical decision-making. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to establish cause-specific mortality in TRD compared to non-TRD major depression.

Method: We identified all individuals with a diagnosis of major depression (MDD) who were treated with an antidepressant aged 15 to 65 years during 2004-2016 in Finland.

High Burden of Ileus and Pneumonia in Clozapine-Treated Individuals With Schizophrenia: A Finnish 25-Year Follow-Up Register Study.

Objective: The authors used longitudinal biobank data with up to 25 years of follow-up on over 2,600 clozapine users to derive reliable estimates of the real-world burden of clozapine adverse drug events (ADEs).

Methods: A total of 2,659 participants in the FinnGen biobank project had a schizophrenia diagnosis and clozapine purchases with longitudinal electronic health record follow-up for up to 25 years after clozapine initiation. Diseases and health-related events enriched during clozapine use were identified, adjusting for disease severity.

Association of duration of treatment on post-discharge mortality in forensic psychiatric patients in Finland.

Background: Longer treatment time has been shown to be associated with lower crime recidivism among forensic psychiatric patients, but it is not known if this applies also to mortality. In this study, we aim to research whether treatment time is associated with risk of post-discharge mortality in Finnish forensic psychiatric patients.

Materials And Methods: The study population consisted of 989 patients committed to compulsory forensic psychiatric hospital treatment in Finland from 1980 to 2009 who were released from care by the end of 2018.

Effects of antipsychotic treatment on cardio-cerebrovascular related mortality in schizophrenia: A subanalysis of a systematic review and meta-analysis with meta-regression of moderators.

To further explore the role of different antipsychotic treatments for cardio-cerebrovascular mortality, we performed several subgroup, sensitivity and meta-regression analyses based on a large previous meta-analysis focusing on cohort studies assessing mortality relative risk (RR) for cardio-cerebrovascular disorders in people with schizophrenia, comparing antipsychotic treatment versus no antipsychotic. Quality assessment through the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) and publication bias was measured. We meta-analyzed 53 different studies (schizophrenia patients: n = 2,513,359; controls: n = 360,504,484) to highlight the differential effects of antipsychotic treatment regimens on cardio-cerebrovascular-related mortality in incident and prevalent samples of patients with schizophrenia.

Aberrant type 2 dopamine receptor availability in violent offenders with psychopathy.

Psychopathy is characterized by antisocial behavior, poor behavioral control and lacking empathy, and structural alterations in the corresponding neural circuits. Molecular brain basis of psychopathy remains poorly characterized. Here we studied type 2 dopamine receptor (D2R) and mu-opioid receptor (MOR) availability in convicted violent offenders with high psychopathic traits (n = 11) and healthy matched controls (n = 17) using positron emission tomography (PET).

Pneumonia Risk, Antipsychotic Dosing, and Anticholinergic Burden in Schizophrenia.

Importance: Antipsychotic drugs (particularly clozapine) have been associated with pneumonia in observational studies. Despite studies of the associations between antipsychotic use and incident pneumonia, it remains unclear to what degree antipsychotic use is associated with increased risk of pneumonia, whether dose-response associations exist, and what agents are specifically associated with incident pneumonia.

Objective: To estimate pneumonia risk associated with specific antipsychotics and examine whether polytherapy, dosing, and receptor binding properties are associated with pneumonia in patients with schizophrenia.

Dopamine D2 receptor antagonism of antipsychotics and the risk of death due to choking.

The risk of fatal choking for people with schizophrenia and associations with antipsychotic medication are largely unknown. Therefore, we calculated the choking-related standardized mortality ratio for schizophrenia relative to the general population (SMR). We also computed adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) of choking-related mortality for antipsychotics in a nationwide cohort of patients with schizophrenia (N = 59,916).

Cardiovascular mortality in bipolar disorder: Population-based cohort study.

Background: Limited evidence base on cause-specific excess cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in bipolar disorder (BD) is a barrier to developing preventive interventions aimed at reducing the persistent mortality gap in BD.

Objective: To investigate cause-specific CVD mortality in BD.

Methods: We identified all individuals aged 15+ years during 2004-2018 with a diagnosis of BD using Finnish nationwide routine data.

Primate retina trades single-photon detection for high-fidelity contrast encoding.

How the spike output of the retina enables human visual perception is not fully understood. Here, we address this at the sensitivity limit of vision by correlating human visual perception with the spike outputs of primate ON and OFF parasol (magnocellular) retinal ganglion cells in tightly matching stimulus conditions. We show that human vision at its ultimate sensitivity limit depends on the spike output of the ON but not the OFF retinal pathway.

Association of obesity to reaction time and visual memory in schizophrenia.

Background: Both overweight and cognitive deficits are common among people with schizophrenia (SZ) and schizoaffective disorder. The results in earlier studies have been inconsistent on whether overweight is associated with cognitive deficits in psychotic disorders.

Aims: Our aim in this study was to detect possible associations between obesity and cognitive deficits among study participants with SZ and schizoaffective disorder.