The role of sleep disturbance in the relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal ideation

•PTSD symptoms indirectly predicted suicidal ideation via comorbid sleep disturbances, but had no direct effect.•Polyvictimization predicted sleep disturbances and suicidal ideation independently of PTSD or major depression.•No relationships were substantively altered after adjusting for comorbid major depression. We tested if the risk of suicidal ideation in individuals with PTSD symptoms was dependent on comorbid sleep disturbance. Our cross-sectional sample included 2465 participants with complete data from the 21 year follow-up of the Mater University Study of Pregnancy (MUSP), a birth cohort study of young Australians. Using structural equation modelling with indirect pathways we found that 12 month PTSD symptoms did not directly predict suicidal ideation at 21 when adjusting for major depression symptoms, polyvictimization and gender. However, PTSD symptoms had an indirect effect on suicidal ideation via past-month sleep disturbance. Our results suggest that increased suicidal ideation in those with PTSD may result from the fact that PTSD sufferers often exhibit other comorbid psychiatric conditions which are themselves known to predict suicidal behaviours. Sleep disturbance may be targeted in those who experience PTSD to help prevent suicidal ideation

Pre-trauma verbal ability at five years of age and the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder in adult males and females

Previous studies have shown that high cognitive ability, measured in childhood and prior to the experience of traumatic events, is protective of PTSD development. Our aim was to test if the association between pre-trauma verbal ability ascertained at 5 years with DSM-IV lifetime post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at 21 years was subject to effect modification by gender, trauma type or prior behaviour problems. Using a prospective birth cohort of young Australians, we found that both trauma type and behaviour problems did not change the association between cognitive ability and PTSD. During multivariate analysis, testing for the interactive effect of gender revealed that verbal ability was linearly and inversely associated with PTSD in females only, with those in the lowest verbal ability quintile having strongly increased odds of PTSD (OR = 3.89: 95% Cl; 1.50, 10.10) compared with those in the highest quintile. A graph of the interaction revealed lower verbal ability placed females, but not males, at an increased risk of PTSD. Our results indicate that lower verbal ability in early childhood is a vulnerability factor for PTSD in females but not in males, and may constitute a gender-specific risk factor responsible for part of the increased risk of PTSD found in females compared with males. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The association between birth weight and anxiety disorders in young adults

Recent evidence has linked birth weight to later behaviour/mental disorders, yet studies have hitherto neglected to investigate the relationship between birth weight and adult anxiety disorders. Prospectively collected data from 2210 mother/offspring pairs of the Mater University Study of Pregnancy (MUSP) birth cohort was used to test for associations between birth weight z-score and four major groupings of DSM-IV anxiety disorders. Birth weight z-score was linearly and inversely associated with lifetime diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorders at 21 years, with those falling within the smallest birth weight quintile group at almost two-fold increased odds (OR=1.96, 95% CI: 1.10, 3.52) of being diagnosed with the disorder compared to those falling within the largest group. The association remained when subsequent analysis restricted the sample to those exposed to trauma. This is the first study in which birth weight has been found to be associated with post-traumatic stress disorders in adults. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The association between lower birth weight and comorbid generalised anxiety and major depressive disorder

Objective: Studies testing the association between birth weight and depression or anxiety have found inconsistent results and there has been a lack of research on the possible relationship between birth weight and comorbid anxiety and depression. We tested for an association between lower birth weight and major depression, generalised anxiety and comorbid generalised anxiety and major depression

Predicting spectrums of adult mania, psychosis and depression by prospectively ascertained childhood neurodevelopment

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Background: We used a novel approach to investigate early neurodevelopmental factors of later adult spectrums of mania, depression and psychosis as a means to identify etiological similarities and differences among the three constructs. Methods: Participants were from the Mater University Study of Pregnancy (MUSP), a pre-birth cohort study started in Brisbane, Australia in 1981. A range of neurodevelopmental variables were ascertained at age 5, including measures of cognitive ability, developmental delay and behaviour problems. At age 21, offspring were assessed using a semi-structured psychiatric interview. We used structural equation modelling to establish three latent factors of mania, depression and psychotic symptoms. We then regressed these factors on the neurodevelopmental variables and covariates. Results: In both univariate and multivariate analysis premorbid cognitive ability predicted only psychotic symptoms, developmental delay predicted only manic symptoms, while behaviour problems predicted both depressive and psychotic symptoms. In a supplementary analysis the three factors were also found to have unique relationships with a number of outcomes also measured at age 21, including anxiety and substance use. Conclusion: By assessing the impact of early childhood neurodevelopment on the continuous spectrums which underlie three serious adult psychiatric disorders in a general population sample, we provide unique evidence regarding potential etiological similarities and differences. Perhaps of most interest is that our findings suggest that the manic and depressive symptoms in bipolar depression, despite often overlapping in clinical presentations, may in fact be somewhat separate entities with origins that are at least partly unique to either disorder