Alcohol use in adolescence as a risk factor for overdose in the 1986 Northern Finland Birth Cohort Study

Background Overdoses and poisonings are among the most common causes of death in young adults. Adolescent problem drinking has been associated with psychiatric morbidity in young adulthood as well as with elevated risk for suicide attempts. There is limited knowledge on adolescent alcohol use as a risk factor for alcohol and/or drug overdoses in later life. Methods Here, data from The Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 study with a follow-up from adolescence to early adulthood were used to assess the associations between adolescent alcohol use and subsequent alcohol or drug overdose. Three predictors were used: age of first intoxication, self-reported alcohol tolerance and frequency of alcohol intoxication in adolescence. ICD-10-coded overdose diagnoses were obtained from nationwide registers. Use of illicit drugs or misuse of medication, Youth Self Report total score, family structure and mother's education in adolescence were used as covariates. Results In multivariate analyses, early age of first alcohol intoxication [hazard ratios (HR) 4.5, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 2.2-9.2, P < 0.001], high alcohol tolerance (HR 3.1, 95% CI 1.6-6.0, P = 0.001) and frequent alcohol intoxication (HR 1.9, 95% CI 1.0-3.4, P = 0.035) all associated with the risk of overdoses. Early age of first intoxication (HR 5.2, 95% CI 1.9-14.7, P = 0.002) and high alcohol tolerance (HR 4.4, 95% CI 1.7-11.5, P = 0.002) also associated with intentional overdoses. Conclusions Alcohol use in adolescence associated prospectively with increased risk of overdose in later life. Early age of first intoxication, high alcohol tolerance and frequent alcohol intoxication are all predictors of overdoses.Peer reviewe

Parental smoking and young adult offspring psychosis, depression and anxiety disorders and substance use disorder

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The relationships between use of alcohol, tobacco and coffee in adolescence and mood disorders in adulthood

Introduction Alcohol, tobacco and coffee are commonly used substances and use in adolescence has previously been linked to mood disorders. However, few large prospective studies have investigated adolescent use in relation to mental health outcomes in adulthood. The main aim of this study was to examine the prospective associations between alcohol use, cigarette smoking and coffee consumption at age 16 and subsequent mood disorders up to 33 years of age. Methods Data from The Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 Study were used and a total of 7660 participants (49.9% male) were included. Associations between alcohol use, cigarette smoking and coffee consumption at age 16 and later diagnoses of major depression and bipolar disorder were examined using multinomial logistic regression analyses. Results Mean number of cigarettes/day (OR, 1.23 [95% CI 1.01-1.50]) and mean volume of alcohol consumption (OR, 1.22 [95% CI 1.01-1.47]), but not frequency of excessive drinking, in adolescence were associated with increased risk for subsequent bipolar disorder after adjustment for sex, parental psychiatric disorders, family structure, illicit substance use, and emotional and behavioral problems at age 16. An association between cigarette smoking and major depression attenuated to statistically non-significant when adjusted for emotional and behavioral problems. No associations were observed between adolescent coffee consumption and subsequent mood disorders. Conclusions This is the first study to report an association of adolescent cigarette smoking and subsequent bipolar disorder diagnosis providing grounds for further research and pointing to a place for preventive measures among adolescents.Peer reviewe

Is early exposure to cannabis associated with bipolar disorder? Results from a Finnish birth cohort study

Background and aims: There are few longitudinal studies assessing the association of cannabis use and subsequent onset of bipolar disorder. We aimed to measure the association between early cannabis exposure and subsequent bipolar disorder.Design, setting and participants: Observational study linking a sample from the northern Finland birth cohort 1986 (n = 6325) to nation-wide register data to examine the association of life-time cannabis exposure at age 15/16 years and subsequent bipolar disorder until age 33 (until the end of 2018); 6325 individuals (48.8% males) were included in the analysis.Measurements: Cannabis exposure was measured via self-report. Bipolar disorder was measured via bipolar disorder-related diagnostic codes (ICD-10: F30.xx, F31.xx) collected from the Care Register for Health Care 2001-18, the Register of Primary Health Care Visits 2011-18, the medication reimbursement register of the Social Insurance Institution of Finland 2001-05 and the disability pensions of the Finnish Center for Pensions 2001-16. Potential confounders included demographic characteristics, parental psychiatric disorders, emotional and behavioral problems and other substance use.Findings: Three hundred and fifty-two adolescents (5.6%) reported any cannabis use until the age of 15-16 years. Of the whole sample, 66 (1.0%) were diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Adolescent cannabis use was associated with bipolar disorder [hazard ratio (HR) = 3.46; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.81-6.61]. This association remained statistically significant after adjusting for sex, family structure and parental psychiatric disorders (HR = 3.00; 95% CI = 1.47-6.13) and after further adjusting for adolescent emotional and behavioral problems (HR = 2.34; 95% CI = 1.11-4.94). Further adjustments for frequent alcohol intoxications, daily smoking and lifetime illicit drug use attenuated the associations to statistically non-significant.Conclusions: In Finland, the positive association between early cannabis exposure and subsequent development of bipolar disorder appears to be confounded by other substance use.</p

Adolescent cannabis use, depression and anxiety disorders in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986

BackgroundCannabis use has been associated with increased risk of psychiatric disorders. However, associations between adolescent cannabis use, depression and anxiety disorders are inconsistently reported in longitudinal samples.AimsTo study associations of adolescent cannabis use with depression and anxiety disorders.MethodWe used data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986, linked to nationwide registers, to study the association between adolescent cannabis use and depression and anxiety disorders until 33 years of age (until 2018).ResultsWe included 6325 participants (48.8% male) in the analyses; 352 (5.6%) participants reported cannabis use until 15–16 years of age. By the end of the follow-up, 583 (9.2%) participants were diagnosed with unipolar depression and 688 (10.9%) were diagnosed with anxiety disorder. Cannabis use in adolescence was associated with an increased risk of depression and anxiety disorders in crude models. After adjusting for parental psychiatric disorder, baseline emotional and behavioural problems, demographic factors and other substance use, using cannabis five or more times was associated with increased risk of anxiety disorders (hazard ratio 2.01, 95% CI 1.15–3.82), and using cannabis once (hazard ratio 1.93, 95% CI 1.30–2.87) or two to four times (hazard ratio 2.02, 95% CI 1.24–3.31) was associated with increased risk of depression.ConclusionsCannabis use in adolescence was associated with an increased risk of future depression and anxiety disorders. Further research is needed to clarify if this is a causal association, which could then inform public health messages about the use of cannabis in adolescence.</p

Kysely lääkäreille : psykoosilääkkeiden off label - määräämisen käytännöt

Unettomuus ja ahdistuneisuus olivat yleisimmät syyt, joiden takia lääkärit määräsivät psykoosilääkkeitä off label -käyttöön. Eniten määrättiin ketiapiinia. Lääkärit raportoivat potilaiden saavan off label -käytöstä enemmän hyötyä kuin haittaa. Potilaiden seurantaan tulee kiinnittää nykyistä enemmän huomiota

Age of first alcohol intoxication and psychiatric disorders in young adulthood: A prospective birth cohort study

Objective: Early onset of alcohol use is associated with an increased risk of substance use disorders (SUD), but few studies have examined associations with other psychiatric disorders. Our aim was to study the association between the age of first alcohol intoxication (AFI) and the risk of psychiatric disorders in a Finnish general population sample. Methods: We utilized a prospective, general population-based study, the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986. In all, 6,290 15?16-year old adolescents answered questions on AFI and were followed up until the age of 33 years for psychiatric disorders (any psychiatric disorder, psychosis, SUD, mood disorders and anxiety disorders) by using nationwide register linkage data. Cox-regression analysis with Hazard Ratios (HR, with 95% confidence intervals (CI)) was used to assess the risk of psychiatric disorders associated with AFI. Results: Statistically significant associations were observed between AFI and any psychiatric disorder, psychosis, SUDs, and mood disorders. After adjustments for other substance use, family structure, sex and parental psychiatric disorders, AFIs of 13?14 years and Conclusions: We found significant associations between the early age of first alcohol intoxication, later SUD and any psychiatric disorder in a general population sample. This further supports the need for preventive efforts to postpone the first instances of adolescent alcohol intoxication.</div

Alcohol use in adolescence as a risk factor for overdose in the 1986 Northern Finland Birth Cohort Study

Background Overdoses and poisonings are among the most common causes of death in young adults. Adolescent problem drinking has been associated with psychiatric morbidity in young adulthood as well as with elevated risk for suicide attempts. There is limited knowledge on adolescent alcohol use as a risk factor for alcohol and/or drug overdoses in later life.Methods Here, data from The Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 study with a follow-up from adolescence to early adulthood were used to assess the associations between adolescent alcohol use and subsequent alcohol or drug overdose. Three predictors were used: age of first intoxication, self-reported alcohol tolerance and frequency of alcohol intoxication in adolescence. ICD-10-coded overdose diagnoses were obtained from nationwide registers. Use of illicit drugs or misuse of medication, Youth Self Report total score, family structure and mother's education in adolescence were used as covariates.Results In multivariate analyses, early age of first alcohol intoxication [hazard ratios (HR) 4.5, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 2.2-9.2, P Conclusions Alcohol use in adolescence associated prospectively with increased risk of overdose in later life. Early age of first intoxication, high alcohol tolerance and frequent alcohol intoxication are all predictors of overdoses.</p

Adolescent alcohol and cannabis use as risk factors for head trauma in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort study 1986

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the associations between cannabis use and frequency of alcohol intoxication in adolescence with the risk of traumatic brain injury and craniofacial fractures in early adulthood. Hypothesis was that using alcohol and cannabis in adolescence could increase the risk for head traumas. Methods: Data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (n = 9432 individuals) were used to investigate the prospective association between the self-reported frequency of alcohol intoxication (n = 6472) and cannabis use (n = 6586) in mid-adolescence and register-based, head trauma diagnoses by ages 32–33 years. To test the robustness of these associations, the statistical models were adjusted for a range of other confounders such as illicit drug use, previous head trauma and self-reported mental health problems. Results: In multivariate analyses, cannabis use was statistically significantly associated with a greater risk of traumatic brain injury among females [hazard ratio (HR) 1.9, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1–3.2, P = 0.024). Frequent alcohol intoxication was a statistically significant independent risk factor for both traumatic brain injury (HR 2.6, 95% CI 1.7–3.9, P < 0.001) and craniofacial fractures (HR 2.7, 95% CI 1.6–4.8, P < 0.001) among males. Conclusions: Cannabis use in adolescence appears to associate independently with elevated risk for traumatic brain injury among females, and frequent alcohol intoxication in adolescence seems to associate with elevated risk of both traumatic brain injury and craniofacial fractures among males.Peer reviewe

Off-label prescribing of antipsychotics - a questionnaire survey of Finnish physicians

English abstract.Peer reviewe