Treatment adequacy of anxiety disorders among young adults in Finland

Background: Anxiety disorders are common in early adulthood, but general population studies concerning the treatment adequacy of anxiety disorders taking into account appropriate pharmacological and psychological treatment are scarce. The aims of this study were to examine treatments received for anxiety disorders in a Finnish general population sample of young adults, and to define factors associated with receiving minimally adequate treatment and with dropping out from treatment. Methods: A questionnaire containing several mental health screens was sent to a nationally representative two-stage cluster sample of 1894 Finns aged 19 to 34 years. All screen positives and a random sample of screen negatives were invited to a mental health assessment including a SCID interview. For the final diagnostic assessment, case records from mental health treatments for the same sample were obtained. This article investigates treatment received, treatment adequacy and dropouts from treatment of 79 participants with a lifetime anxiety disorder (excluding those with a single specific phobia). Based on all available information, receiving antidepressant or buspirone medication for at least 2 months with at least four visits with any type of physician or at least eight sessions of psychotherapy within 12 months or at least 4 days of hospitalization were regarded as minimally adequate treatment for anxiety disorders. Treatment dropout was rated if the patient discontinued the visits by his own decision despite having an adequate treatment strategy according to the case records. Results: Of participants with anxiety disorders (excluding those with a single specific phobia), 41.8 % had received minimally adequate treatment. In the multivariate analysis, comorbid substance use disorder was associated with antidepressant or buspirone medication lasting at least 2 months. Those who were currently married or cohabiting had lower odds of having at least four visits with a physician a year. None of these factors were associated with the final outcome of minimally adequate treatment or treatment dropout. Participants with comorbid personality disorders received and misused benzodiazepines more often than others. Conclusions: More efforts are needed to provide adequate treatment for young adults with anxiety disorders. Attention should be paid to benzodiazepine prescribing to individuals with personality disorders.Peer reviewe

Fear of nuclear war increases the risk of common mental disorders among young adults : a five-year follow-up study

Background: Evidence on the relation between fear of war and mental health is insufficient. We carried out a prospective cohort study to find out whether fear of nuclear war is related to increased risk of common mental disorders. Methods: Within two months preceding the outbreak of Persian Gulf War in January 1991, 1518 adolescents [mean age 16.8 years, SD 0.9] filled in a self-administered questionnaire. Of the 1493 respondents, 47% gave their written informed consent to participate in the follow-up study. There were no material differences between those who chose to respond anonymously and those who volunteered to give their name and address for the follow-up study. In 1995, the response to the follow-up questionnaire was 92%. Common mental disorders were assessed by 36-item version of the General Health Questionnaire [GHQ]. A score 5 or higher was considered to indicate caseness. We excluded 23 cases which had used mental health services in the year 1991 or earlier and two cases with deficient responses to GHQ. This left 626 subjects for analysis [400 women]. Results: After adjusting for significant mental health risk factors in logistic regression analysis, the risk for common mental disorders was found to be significantly related to the increasing frequency of fear for nuclear war, high scores of trait anxiety and high scores of immature defense style. Elevated risk was confined to the group reporting fear of nuclear war once a week or more often [ odds ratio 2.05; 95% confidence interval 1.29-3.27]. Conclusion: Frequent fear of nuclear war in adolescents seems to be an indicator for an increased risk for common mental disorders and deserves serious attention.Peer reviewe

Lipidomic profiling of patient-specific iPSC-derived hepatocyte-like cells

Hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs) differentiated from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) offer an alternative model to primary human hepatocytes to study lipid aberrations. However, the detailed lipid profile of HLCs is yet unknown. In the current study, functional HLCs were differentiated from iPSCs generated from dermal fibroblasts of three individuals by a three-step protocol through the definitive endoderm (DE) stage. In parallel, detailed lipidomic analyses as well as gene expression profiling of a set of lipid-metabolism-related genes were performed during the entire differentiation process from iPSCs to HLCs. Additionally, fatty acid (FA) composition of the cell culture media at different stages was determined. Our results show that major alterations in the molecular species of lipids occurring during DE and early hepatic differentiation stages mainly mirror the quality and quantity of the FAs supplied in culture medium at each stage. Polyunsaturated phospholipids and sphingolipids with a very long FA were produced in the cells at a later stage of differentiation. This work uncovers the previously unknown lipid composition of iPSC-HLCs and its alterations during the differentiation in conjunction with the expression of key lipid-associated genes. Together with biochemical, functional and gene expression measurements, the lipidomic analyses allowed us to improve our understanding of the concerted influence of the exogenous metabolite supply and cellular biosynthesis essential for iPSC-HLC differentiation and function. Importantly, the study describes in detail a cell model that can be applied in exploring, for example, the lipid metabolism involved in the development of fatty liver disease or atherosclerosis.Peer reviewe

Outcome of depressive and anxiety disorders among young adults: Results from the Longitudinal Finnish Health 2011 Study

<p><b>Purpose of the study:</b> We investigated the outcomes and outcome predictors of depressive and anxiety disorders in a general population sample of young adults with a lifetime history of these disorders.</p> <p><b>Materials and methods:</b> The study sample was derived from a nationally representative two-stage cluster sample of Finns aged 19–34 years. The original study was carried out in 2003–2005, and the follow-up in 2011. We investigated participants diagnosed with a depressive or anxiety disorder based on a SCID interview (excluding those with only a single specific phobia) (DAX-group, <i>N</i> = 181). The control group included those with no DSM-IV- diagnosis (N = 290). They were followed up with the M-CIDI interview assessing 12-month depressive and anxiety disorders in 2011.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> In 2011, 22.8% of the DAX-group was diagnosed with a depressive or anxiety disorder compared to 9.8% of the control group. Education was lower and quality of life worse in the DAX-group than in the control group. Those participants of the DAX-group who received a diagnosis in 2011 had poorer quality of life than those in remission, which emphasizes the influence of a current disorder on the quality of life. Higher score in the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) at baseline predicted poorer quality of life in 2011.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> Thus, depressive and anxiety disorders were persistent/recurrent in one quarter of participants, significantly affecting education and quality of life<b>.</b> Young adults with these disorders need support to achieve their academic goals.</p