Antipsychotic use in pregnancy and risk of attention/deficit-hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder : a Nordic cohort study

Publisher Copyright: © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.BACKGROUND: Antipsychotics are increasingly used among women of childbearing age and during pregnancy. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether children exposed to antipsychotics in utero are at increased risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), accounting for maternal diagnoses of bipolar, psychotic and other psychiatric disorders. Design Population-based cohort study, including a sibling analysis. Setting Nationwide data on all pregnant women and their live-born singletons in Denmark (1997-2017), Finland (1996-2016), Iceland (2004-2017), Norway (2004-2017), and Sweden (2006-2016). Participants 4 324 086 children were eligible for inclusion to the study cohort. Intervention Antipsychotic exposure in utero, assessed by pregnancy trimester, type of antipsychotic, and varying patterns of use. Main outcome measures Non-mutually exclusive diagnoses of ADHD and ASD. We used Cox proportional hazard models to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) controlling for maternal psychiatric disorders and other potential confounding factors. FINDINGS: Among 4 324 086 singleton births, 15 466 (0.4%) were exposed to antipsychotics in utero. During a median follow-up of 10 years, we identified 72 257 children with ADHD and 38 674 children with ASD. Unadjusted HRs were raised for both outcomes but shifted substantially towards the null after adjustment; 1.10 (95%CI 1.00 to 1.27) for ADHD and 1.12 (0.97 to 1.29) for ASD. Adjusted HRs remained consistent by trimester of exposure and type of antipsychotic. Comparing in utero exposure with pre-pregnancy use yielded HRs of 0.74 (0.62 to 0.87) for ADHD and 0.88 (0.70 to 1.10) for ASD. Sibling analyses yielded HRs of 1.14 (0.79 to 1.64) for ADHD and 1.34 (0.75 to 2.39) for ASD. DISCUSSION: Our findings suggest little or no increased risk of child ADHD or ASD after in utero exposure to antipsychotics. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Results regarding child neurodevelopment are reassuring for women who need antipsychotics during pregnancy.Peer reviewe

Comparative Safety of Antiseizure Medication Monotherapy for Major Malformations

Funding Information: The study was partly supported by the NordForsk Nordic Program on Health and Welfare (Nordic Pregnancy Drug Safety Studies, project No. 83539 and SCAN‐AED, project No. 83796), by the Research Council of Norway (International Pregnancy Drug Safety Studies, project No. 273366), and by the Research Council of Norway through its Centers of Excellence funding scheme (project No. 262700). H.Z. was supported by a UNSW Scientia Program Award during the conduct of the study. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Annals of Neurology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Neurological Association.Objective: This study was undertaken to examine the comparative safety of antiseizure medication (ASM) monotherapy in pregnancy with respect to risk of major congenital malformations (MCMs), overall and by MCM subtype. Methods: We conducted a population-based cohort study using national health register data from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden (1996–2020). We compared pregnancies with first trimester exposure to lamotrigine monotherapy to ASM-unexposed, carbamazepine, valproate, oxcarbazepine, levetiracetam, and topiramate to lamotrigine monotherapy, and stratified monotherapy groups by dose. The outcome was nongenetic MCM and specific subtypes. We estimated adjusted risk ratios (aRRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) with log-binomial regression and propensity score weights. Results: There was a higher crude risk of any MCM in pregnancies exposed to lamotrigine monotherapy (n = 8,339) compared to ASM-unexposed pregnancies (n = 4,866,362), but not after confounder adjustment (aRR = 0.97, 95% CI = 0.87–1.08). Compared to lamotrigine, there was an increased risk of malformations associated with valproate (n = 2,031, aRR = 2.05, 95% CI = 1.70–2.46) and topiramate (n = 509, aRR = 1.81, 95% CI = 1.26–2.60), which increased in a dose-dependent manner. We found no differences in malformation risk for carbamazepine (n = 2,674, aRR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.72–1.15), oxcarbazepine (n = 1,313, aRR = 1.09, 95% CI = 0.83–1.44), or levetiracetam (n = 1,040, aRR = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.53–1.13). Valproate was associated with several malformation subtypes, including nervous system, cardiac, oral clefts, clubfoot, and hypospadias, whereas lamotrigine and carbamazepine were not. Interpretation: Topiramate is associated with an increased risk of MCM similar to that associated with valproate, but lower doses may mitigate the risks for both drugs. Conversely, we found no increased risks for lamotrigine, carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine, or levetiracetam, which is reassuring. ANN NEUROL 2022.Peer reviewe

Does marriage protect against hospitalization with pneumonia? A population-based case-control study

Anil Mor, Sinna P Ulrichsen, Elisabeth Svensson, Klara Berencsi, Reimar W Thomsen Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark Background: To reduce the increasing burden of pneumonia hospitalizations, we need to understand their determinants. Being married may decrease the risk of severe infections, due to better social support and healthier lifestyle. Patients and methods: In this population-based case-control study, we identified all adult patients with a first-time pneumonia-related hospitalization between 1994 and 2008 in Northern Denmark. For each case, ten sex- and age-matched population controls were selected from Denmark's Civil Registration System. We performed conditional logistic regression analysis to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) for pneumonia hospitalization among persons who were divorced, widowed, or never married, as compared with married persons, adjusting for age, sex, 19 different comorbidities, alcoholism-related conditions, immunosuppressant use, urbanization, and living with small children. Results: The study included 67,162 patients with a pneumonia-related hospitalization and 671,620 matched population controls. Compared with controls, the pneumonia patients were more likely to be divorced (10% versus 7%) or never married (13% versus 11%). Divorced and never-married patients were much more likely to have previous diagnoses of alcoholism-related conditions (18% and 11%, respectively) compared with married (3%) and widowed (6%) patients. The adjusted OR for pneumonia-related hospitalization was increased, at 1.29 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.25-1.33) among divorced; 1.15 (95% CI: 1.12-1.17) among widowed; and 1.33 (95% CI: 1.29-1.37) among never-married individuals as compared with those who were married. Conclusion: Married individuals have a decreased risk of being hospitalized with pneumonia compared with never-married, divorced, and widowed patients. Keywords: marital status, risk, mortality, immune functio

Sortilin Modulates Schwann Cell Signaling and Remak Bundle Regeneration Following Nerve Injury

Peripheral nerve regeneration relies on the ability of Schwann cells to support the regrowth of damaged axons. Schwann cells re-differentiate when reestablishing contact with the sprouting axons, with large fibers becoming remyelinated and small nociceptive fibers ensheathed and collected into Remak bundles. We have previously described how the receptor sortilin facilitates neurotrophin signaling in peripheral neurons via regulated trafficking of Trk receptors. This study aims to characterize the effects of sortilin deletion on nerve regeneration following sciatic crush injury. We found that Sort1(-)(/)(-) mice displayed functional motor recovery like that of WT mice, with no detectable differences in relation to nerve conduction velocities and morphological aspects of myelinated fibers. In contrast, we found abnormal ensheathment of regenerated C-fibers in injured Sort1(-)(/)(-) mice, demonstrating a role of sortilin for Remak bundle formation following injury. Further studies on Schwann cell signaling pathways showed a significant reduction of MAPK/ERK, RSK, and CREB phosphorylation in Sort1(-)(/)(-) Schwann cells after stimulation with neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), while Schwann cell migration and myelination remained unaffected. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that loss of sortilin blunts NT-3 signaling in Schwann cells which might contribute to the impaired Remak bundle regeneration after sciatic nerve injury

No add‐on effect of tDCS on fatigue and depression in chronic stroke patients: A randomized sham‐controlled trial combining tDCS with computerized cognitive training

Abstract Background Fatigue and emotional distress rank high among self‐reported unmet needs in life after stroke. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may have the potential to alleviate these symptoms for some patients, but the acceptability and effects for chronic stroke survivors need to be explored in randomized controlled trials. Methods Using a randomized sham‐controlled parallel design, we evaluated whether six sessions of 1 mA tDCS (anodal over F3, cathodal over O2) combined with computerized cognitive training reduced self‐reported symptoms of fatigue and depression. Among the 74 chronic stroke patients enrolled at baseline, 54 patients completed the intervention. Measures of fatigue and depression were collected at five time points spanning a 2 months period. Results While symptoms of fatigue and depression were reduced during the course of the intervention, Bayesian analyses provided evidence for no added beneficial effect of tDCS. Less severe baseline symptoms were associated with higher performance improvement in select cognitive tasks, and study withdrawal was higher in patients with more fatigue and younger age. Time‐resolved symptom analyses by a network approach suggested higher centrality of fatigue items (except item 1 and 2) than depression items. Conclusion The results reveal no add‐on effect of tDCS on fatigue or depression but support the notion of fatigue as a relevant clinical symptom with possible implications for treatment adherence and response