Air pollution exposure is associated with gene expression in children.

Environmental exposures, including air pollutants and lack of natural spaces, are associated with suboptimal health outcomes in children. We aimed to study the associations between environmental exposures and gene expression in children. Associations of exposure to particulate matter (PM) with diameter <2.

Preterm birth in assisted reproduction: the mediating role of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy.

Study Question: To what extent can hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (HDP) explain the higher risk of preterm birth following frozen embryo transfer (frozen-ET) and fresh embryo transfer (fresh-ET) in ART compared with naturally conceived pregnancies?

Summary Answer: HDP did not contribute to the higher risk of preterm birth in pregnancies after fresh-ET but mediated 20.7% of the association between frozen-ET and preterm birth.

What Is Known Already: Risk of preterm birth is higher after ART compared to natural conception.

Perinatal factors associated with sensory processing difficulties in infancy: Findings from the Etude Longitudinale Francaise depuis l'Enfance (ELFE) French national birth cohort.

Background: Sensory processing involves the nervous system receiving, modulating, and responding to sensory stimuli. Clinical samples have elevated rates of sensory processing difficulties, less is known about sensory processing at population-level. We aimed to investigate patterns of sensory processing in infancy and their association with perinatal factors.

A framework for conducting GWAS using repeated measures data with an application to childhood BMI.

Genetic effects on changes in human traits over time are understudied and may have important pathophysiological impact. We propose a framework that enables data quality control, implements mixed models to evaluate trajectories of change in traits, and estimates phenotypes to identify age-varying genetic effects in GWAS. Using childhood BMI as an example trait, we included 71,336 participants from six cohorts and estimated the slope and area under the BMI curve within four time periods (infancy, early childhood, late childhood and adolescence) for each participant, in addition to the age and BMI at the adiposity peak and the adiposity rebound.

Examining associations of air pollution and green space with depressive symptoms in adults: A LongITools cross-cohort analysis.

Objectives: Evidence suggests that high levels of air pollution and less green space increase depressive symptoms in adults. However, results are mixed and cross-cohort comparisons are scarce, largely due to heterogeneity in exposure assessment. Also, the impact of these exposures on the trajectory of depressive symptoms over time has been less studied.

A nationwide longitudinal investigation on the role of prenatal exposure to infectious diseases on the onset of chronic conditions in children and adolescents in Brazil.

Background: In utero exposure to infections might set the stage for a chain of events leading to a wide spectrum of long-term health outcomes observed in children and adolescents. This proposal aims to investigate whether syphilis, zika, dengue and chikungunya during pregnancy can increase the risk of the offspring developing a non-infectious chronic condition during childhood and adolescence.

Objectives: 1) Estimate the risk of non-infectious chronic conditions associated to syphilis, zika, dengue and chikungunya during pregnancy and when appropriate, explore if the risk varies by timing during pregnancy when the infection is acquired (first, second or third trimester) and severity (such as severe or mild dengue); 2) Investigate whether in uterus exposure to maternal infection affects the growth pattern of children and adolescents; 3) Examine the extent to which the relationship between maternal infection and non-infectious chronic outcomes are mediated by intrauterine growth restriction and preterm birth.

Adiposity and mortality among intensive care patients with COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 respiratory conditions: a cross-context comparison study in the UK.

Background: Adiposity shows opposing associations with mortality within COVID-19 versus non-COVID-19 respiratory conditions. We assessed the likely causality of adiposity for mortality among intensive care patients with COVID-19 versus non-COVID-19 by examining the consistency of associations across temporal and geographical contexts where biases vary.

Methods: We used data from 297 intensive care units (ICUs) in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland (Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre Case Mix Programme).

Analyses Using Multiple Imputation Need to Consider Missing Data in Auxiliary Variables.

Auxiliary variables are used in multiple imputation (MI) to reduce bias and increase efficiency. These variables may often themselves be incomplete. We explored how missing data in auxiliary variables influenced estimates obtained from MI.

Evaluation and comparison of nine growth and development-based measures of pubertal timing.

Background: Pubertal timing is heritable, varies between individuals, and has implications for life-course health. There are many different indicators of pubertal timing, and how they relate to each other is unclear. Our aim was to quantitatively compare nine indicators of pubertal timing.

A novel hypothesis-generating approach for detecting phenotypic associations using epigenetic data.

Hypotheses about what phenotypes to include in causal analyses, that in turn can have clinical and policy implications, can be guided by hypothesis-free approaches leveraging the epigenome, for example. Minimally adjusted epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) using ALSPAC data were performed for example conditions, dysmenorrhea and heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB). Differentially methylated CpGs were searched in the EWAS Catalog and associated traits identified.

Green spaces and respiratory, cardiometabolic, and neurodevelopmental outcomes: An individual-participant data meta-analysis of >35.000 European children.

Studies evaluating the benefits and risks of green spaces on children's health are scarce. The present study aimed to examine the associations between exposure to green spaces during pregnancy and early childhood with respiratory, cardiometabolic, and neurodevelopmental outcomes in school-age children. We performed an Individual-Participant Data (IPD) meta-analysis involving 35,000 children from ten European birth cohorts across eight countries.

Do engagement and behavioural mechanisms underpin the effectiveness of the Drink Less app?

This is a process evaluation of a large UK-based randomised controlled trial (RCT) (n = 5602) evaluating the effectiveness of recommending an alcohol reduction app, Drink Less, compared with usual digital care in reducing alcohol consumption in increasing and higher risk drinkers. The aim was to understand whether participants' engagement ('self-reported adherence') and behavioural characteristics were mechanisms of action underpinning the effectiveness of Drink Less. Self-reported adherence with both digital tools was over 70% (Drink Less: 78.

Developmental trajectories of child and adolescent emotional problems: associations with early adult alcohol use behaviors.

Background: Whether emotional problems during childhood and adolescence are longitudinally associated with adult alcohol use behaviors is unclear. This study examined associations between developmental trajectories of emotional problems and early adult alcohol use behaviors, while considering co-occurring conduct problems, developmental change/timing, sex differences, and potential confounds.

Methods: Participants were from the Twins Early Development Study (analytic N = 19,908 individuals).

Associations between residential environments and late-onset schizophrenia in UK Biobank: Interaction with genetic risk factor.

Background: Environment and genes both contribute to schizophrenia. However, the impact of different natural environments surrounding residential addresses on schizophrenia in urban settings remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the association of urbanisation, measured by residential environments, with late-onset schizophrenia and explore whether genetic risk for schizophrenia modified the associations.

Epidural analgesia during labour and severe maternal morbidity: population based study.

Objectives: To determine the effect of labour epidural on severe maternal morbidity (SMM) and to explore whether this effect might be greater in women with a medical indication for epidural analgesia during labour, or with preterm labour.

Design: Population based study.

Setting: All NHS hospitals in Scotland.

Incident psychotic experiences following self-reported use of high-potency cannabis: Results from a longitudinal cohort study.

Background And Aims: High-potency cannabis has been associated with increased risk of psychosis, but a lack of prospective data hinders understanding of causality in this relationship. This study aimed to combine prospective report of cannabis use with retrospective report of potency to infer the potency of cannabis used in adolescence and explore whether use of cannabis, and the use of high-potency cannabis, in adolescence is associated with incident psychotic experiences.

Design: Population-based birth cohort study.

Regression discontinuity design for the study of health effects of exposures acting early in life.

Regression discontinuity design (RDD) is a quasi-experimental approach to study the causal effect of an exposure on later outcomes by exploiting the discontinuity in the exposure probability at an assignment variable cut-off. With the intent of facilitating the use of RDD in the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) research, we describe the main aspects of the study design and review the studies, assignment variables and exposures that have been investigated to identify short- and long-term health effects of early life exposures. We also provide a brief overview of some of the methodological considerations for the RDD identification using an example of a DOHaD study.

Role of Inflammation in Depressive and Anxiety Disorders, Affect, and Cognition: Genetic and Non-Genetic Findings in the Lifelines Cohort Study.

Background: Low-grade systemic inflammation is implicated in the pathogenesis of various neuropsychiatric conditions affecting mood and cognition. While much of the evidence concerns depression, large-scale population studies of anxiety, affect, and cognitive function are scarce. Importantly, causality remains unclear.

Blood-based epigenome-wide analyses of chronic low-grade inflammation across diverse population cohorts.

Chronic inflammation is a hallmark of age-related disease states. The effectiveness of inflammatory proteins including C-reactive protein (CRP) in assessing long-term inflammation is hindered by their phasic nature. DNA methylation (DNAm) signatures of CRP may act as more reliable markers of chronic inflammation.