Bidirectional Associations Between Asthma and Types of Mental Disorders.

Background: Asthma and mental disorders frequently co-occur. Studies of their comorbidity have generally focused on associations related to a subset of mental disorders.

Objective: To estimate bidirectional associations between asthma and 10 broad types of mental disorders.

The association between mental disorders and subsequent years of working life: a Danish population-based cohort study.

Background: Mental disorders can affect workforce participation via a range of mechanisms. In this study, we aimed to estimate the association between different types of mental disorders and working years lost, defined as the number of years not actively working or enrolled in an educational programme.

Methods: In this population-based cohort study, we included all people aged 18-65 years (mean 38·0 [SD 13·9]) in the Danish Civil Registration System from Jan 1, 1995 to Dec 31, 2016.

Variation in the prevalence of different forms of bullying victimisation among adolescents and their associations with family, peer and school connectedness: a population-based study in 40 lower and middle income to high-income countries (LMIC-HICs).

Unlabelled: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of different forms of bullying victimization experiences and their association with family functioning, peer relationships and school connectedness among adolescents across 40 lower and middle income to high-income countries (LMIC-HICs). Data were drawn from the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) school-based survey of adolescents aged 11-15 years, between 2013 and 2014. We estimated the weighted prevalence by categorising experiences into traditional bullying victimization only, cyberbullying victimization only, and combined traditional and cyberbullying victimization, at country and country income classification.

Staff Experiences of Integrating Peer Support Workers and Clinical Staff in Community-Based Residential Mental Health Rehabilitation: A Pragmatic Grounded Theory Analysis.

Mental health services are increasingly incorporating the views and expertise of people with a lived experience of mental illness in service delivery. A novel approach to this is the 'integrated staffing model' being trialled at two Australian public residential mental health rehabilitation services (Community Care Units, CCUs) where peer support workers (PSWs) occupy the majority of staff roles and work alongside clinicians. Semi-structured interviews were completed with fifteen staff 12-to-18-months after service commencement.

The clinical implications of climate change for mental health.

Climate change affects mental health through multiple pathways, including direct and indirect impacts, physical health and awareness of the climate crisis. Climate change increases the magnitude and frequency of extreme events with little or no time for recovery. This Review aims to provide an overview of the current evidence to inform the mental health field's response to climate change.

Cost-Utility and Cost-effectiveness of MoodSwings 2.0, an Internet-Based Self-management Program for Bipolar Disorder: Economic Evaluation Alongside a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Internet-delivered psychosocial interventions can overcome barriers to face-to-face psychosocial care, but limited evidence supports their cost-effectiveness for people with bipolar disorders (BDs).

Objective: This study aimed to conduct within-trial cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analyses of an internet-based intervention for people with BD, MoodSwings 2.0, from an Australian health sector perspective.

Vitamin D and the Central Nervous System: Causative and Preventative Mechanisms in Brain Disorders.

Twenty of the last one hundred years of vitamin D research have involved investigations of the brain as a target organ for this hormone. Our group was one of the first to investigate brain outcomes resulting from primarily restricting dietary vitamin D during brain development. With the advent of new molecular and neurochemical techniques in neuroscience, there has been increasing interest in the potential neuroprotective actions of vitamin D in response to a variety of adverse exposures and how this hormone could affect brain development and function.

The Burden of Proof studies: assessing the evidence of risk.

Exposure to risks throughout life results in a wide variety of outcomes. Objectively judging the relative impact of these risks on personal and population health is fundamental to individual survival and societal prosperity. Existing mechanisms to quantify and rank the magnitude of these myriad effects and the uncertainty in their estimation are largely subjective, leaving room for interpretation that can fuel academic controversy and add to confusion when communicating risk.

Estimated Global Proportions of Individuals With Persistent Fatigue, Cognitive, and Respiratory Symptom Clusters Following Symptomatic COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021.

Importance: Some individuals experience persistent symptoms after initial symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection (often referred to as Long COVID).

Objective: To estimate the proportion of males and females with COVID-19, younger or older than 20 years of age, who had Long COVID symptoms in 2020 and 2021 and their Long COVID symptom duration.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Bayesian meta-regression and pooling of 54 studies and 2 medical record databases with data for 1.

The contribution of general medical conditions to the non-fatal burden of mental disorders: register-based cohort study in Denmark.

Background: General medical conditions (GMCs) often co-occur with mental and substance use disorders (MSDs).

Aims: To explore the contribution of GMCs to the burden of disease in people with MSDs, and investigate how this varied by age.

Method: A population-based cohort of 6 988 507 persons living in Denmark during 2000-2015 followed for up to 16 years.

The role of metformin as a treatment for neuropsychiatric illness.

Advances in psychopharmacology have been significantly slower to evolve than in other disciplines of medicine and therefore investigation into novel therapeutic approaches is required. Additionally, concurrent metabolic conditions are prevalent among people with mental disorders. Metformin is a widely used hypoglycaemic agent that is now being studied for use beyond diabetes management.

The associations between traumatic experiences and subsequent onset of a substance use disorder: Findings from the World Health Organization World Mental Health surveys.

Aim: Exposure to traumatic events (TEs) is associated with substance use disorders (SUDs). However, most studies focus on a single TE, and are limited to single countries, rather than across countries with variation in economic, social and cultural characteristics. We used cross-national data to examine associations of diverse TEs with SUD onset, and variation in associations over time.

Anti--Methyl-d-Aspartate Receptor Antibody Testing in First-Episode Psychosis: Universal or Targeted Testing.

Anti--methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis is an immune-mediated disorder that typically presents with rapid development of neuropsychiatric symptoms. As a potentially reversible cause of psychosis, there have been calls internationally for routine serological screening for anti-NMDAR antibodies in patients presenting with first-episode psychosis (FEP). Increased serological testing has, however, exposed several limitations of universal screening and rekindled debate as to which patients should be tested.

Smoke and mirrors: Support from psychiatrists for nicotine e-cigarette availability in Australia.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists' (RANZCP) 2018 position statement supports increased, regulated availability of e-cigarettes (ECs) as a harm-reduction measure and recommends further research into their use. Aligned with this recommendation, we aimed to critically evaluate the RANZCP's stance on this issue through a literature review focused on the areas identified in the position statement as requiring further investigation: (1) the adverse health effects attributable to ECs; (2) use of ECs for smoking cessation (particularly for people living with severe mental illness); and (3) EC-associated risks for nicotine naïve young people. We identified and summarised evidence of harm attributable to ECs that is particularly relevant to young people through direct adverse health sequelae, onset of nicotine dependence and increased risk of combustible cigarette (CC) use.

Renewal of academic psychiatry without addressing gender equity will render it Jurassic rather than endangered.

While two editorials have raised concerns about the decline in Australian academic psychiatry, for a genuine rejuvenation to ever occur, we will need to re-examine how women can be better included in this important endeavour. While attainment of fellowship has reached gender parity, academic psychiatry has disappointingly lagged, with 80% of its senior leadership roles across Australia and New Zealand still held by men, with a similar situation in the United Kingdom and the United States as well as many other countries. Encouraging women into academic psychiatry is not only critical to progress as a profession but also will help address the current blindness to sex differences in biological psychiatry, as well the social impact of restrictive gender norms and the effects of gender-based violence on mental health.

Hydrogen Sulfide Attenuates High-Fat Diet-Induced Obesity: Involvement of mTOR/IKK/NF-κB Signaling Pathway.

Obesity has become a public health epidemic worldwide and is associated with many diseases with high mortality including hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. High-fat diet (HFD)-induced energy imbalance is one of the primary causes of obesity, but the underlying mechanisms are not fully elucidated. Our study showed that HFD reduced the level of hydrogen sulfide (HS) and its catalytic enzyme cystathionine β-synthase (CBS) in mouse hypothalamus and plasma.

Prevention of high body mass index and eating disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Eating disorders (EDs) and high body mass index (BMI) are two important public health issues with significant health and cost impacts. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to establish whether interventions are effective in preventing both issues.

Methods: Electronic databases were searched up to 10 May 2021.

Activity in the Dorsomedial Striatum Underlies Serial Reversal Learning Performance Under Probabilistic Uncertainty.

Background: Corticostriatal circuits, particularly the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) and lateral orbitofrontal cortex, are critical for navigating reversal learning under probabilistic uncertainty. These same areas are implicated in the reversal learning impairments observed in individuals with psychosis as well as their psychotic symptoms, suggesting that they may share a common neurobiological substrate. To address this question, we used psychostimulant exposure and specific activation of the DMS during reversal learning in mice to assess corticostriatal activity.

Impairments in goal-directed action and reversal learning in a proportion of individuals with psychosis.

Cognitive impairment in psychosis is one of the strongest predictors of functional decline. Problems with decision-making processes, such as goal-directed action and reversal learning, can reflect cortico-striatal dysfunction. The heterogenous symptoms and neurobiology observed in those with psychosis suggests that specific cognitive phenotypes may reflect differing causative mechanisms.

Substance use confounds associations between peer victimization and aggression in adolescence with mental disorders in adulthood: A prospective birth cohort study.

Introduction: Peer victimization and aggression in adolescence are associated with later mental health morbidity. However, studies examining this association have not controlled for adolescent substance use. We aimed to study the associations between peer victimization, peer aggression, and mental disorders in adulthood, adjusting for substance use in adolescence.

Quantitative methods for climate change and mental health research: current trends and future directions.

The quantitative literature on climate change and mental health is growing rapidly. However, the methodological quality of the evidence is heterogeneous, and there is scope for methodological improvement and innovation. The first section of this Personal View provides a snapshot of current methodological trends and issues in the quantitative literature on climate change and mental health, drawing on literature collected through a previous scoping review.