Increasing (un)certainty : becoming parents in the digital age

Becoming parents for the first time is a period with many intense emotions. Happiness and gratitude can be quickly alternated with doubt and stress. In thisauto-ethnographic paper we reflect on how different online sources have influenced these emotions

Type D personality in the general population:a systematic review of health status, mechanisms of disease, and work-related problems

BACKGROUND: The objective was to review all available literature concerning Type D (distressed) personality among the general population and to discuss its implications for research on health status, disease-promoting mechanisms and work-related problems in non-clinical populations. METHODS: A computerized search of the literature was performed independently and in duplicate by both investigators on December 21(st), 2009. Published research reports were included if they studied Type D personality among the general population. Nineteen articles were selected and they were subjected to an 11-item standardised quality checklist by both investigators. RESULTS: The methodological quality of the selected studies was adequate to high. The studies included in this review showed that the presence of Type D characteristics had a negative impact on mental health status (more symptoms of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, mental distress, passive coping, and less social support) and physical health status (more somatic complaints, lower health status, more influenza-like illness reporting). Other studies reported on behavioral and biological mechanisms of disease in apparently healthy individuals with a Type D personality. Finally, some studies also showed a negative effect of Type D personality on work-related problems (higher absence-leave, higher levels of vital exhaustion and burnout, and more work-related stress). CONCLUSIONS: Type D personality is a vulnerability factor for general psychological distress that affects mental and physical health status and is associated with disease-promoting mechanisms and work-related problems in apparently healthy individuals

Longitudinal associations of former and current alcohol consumption with psychosocial outcomes among colorectal cancer survivors 1–15 years after diagnosis

We aimed to explore positive and negative associations of consuming alcohol with psychosocial outcomes among colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors. We used data of an observational prospective cohort study, consisting of 2625 Dutch CRC survivors enrolled 1-11 years post-diagnosis that were followed-up in 4 yearly surveys. Generalized estimated equation models were used to examine longitudinal associations between alcohol consumption and anxiety, depression, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL), while correcting for sociodemographic, lifestyle and clinical characteristics. Compared to lifetime abstainers, former alcohol consumption was associated with more depressive symptoms, and worse global quality of life and social functioning, while current drinking was associated with less anxiety, depression and better HRQoL. More drinks per week was associated with less nausea/vomiting. Compared to abstainers, moderate (≤7 drinks/week) and heavy alcohol consumption (>7 drinks/week) were associated with less anxiety and depression and better HRQoL, mostly attributable to wine consumption. Whereas current alcohol consumption was longitudinally associated with less anxiety and depression and better HRQoL, former drinking was associated with worse psychosocial outcomes, although based on a small sample size. It is important to consider that besides the potential negative effects of alcohol on patients’ health, alcohol consumption may be positively related with psychosocial outcomes

Comparing survival rates for clusters of depressive symptoms found by Network analysis' community detection algorithms:Results from a prospective population-based study among 9774 cancer survivors from the PROFILES-registry

Objectives: Previous studies have shown that depression is associated with mortality in patients with cancer. Depression is however a heterogeneous construct and it may be more helpful to look at different (clusters) of depressive symptoms than to look at depression as a discrete condition. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether clusters of depressive symptoms can be identified using advanced statistics and to investigate how these symptom clusters are associated with all-cause mortality in a large group of patients with cancer. Method: Data from a large population-based cohort study (PROFILES) including various cancer types were used. Eligible patients completed self-report questionnaires (i.e. Fatigue assessment scale, Hospital anxiety and depression scale, EORTC QOL-C30) after diagnosis. Survival status was determined on 31 January 2022. Results: In total, 9744 patients were included. Network analyses combining different community detection algorithms showed that clusters of depressive symptoms could be detected that correspond with motivational anhedonia, consummatory anhedonia and negative affect. Survival analyses using the variables that represented these clusters best showed that motivational and consummatory anhedonia were associated with survival. Even after controlling for clinical and sociodemographic variables items assessing motivational anhedonia were significantly associated with mortality over time. Conclusion: Separate clusters of symptoms that correspond with motivational and consummatory anhedonia and negative affect can be distinguished and anhedonia may be associated with mortality more than negative affect. Looking at particular (clusters of) depressive symptoms may be more informative and clinically relevant than using depression as a single construct (i.e. syndrome).</p

Personality, health behaviors and quality of life among colorectal cancer survivors:Results from the PROFILES registry

Contains fulltext : 170340.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)PURPOSE: There is a paucity of research looking into the relationship between personality and health behaviors among cancer survivors. The aim of this study was to investigate whether Type D personality and its two constituent components, negative affectivity (NA) and social inhibition (SI), are associated with health behaviors, quality of life (QoL), and mental distress among colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors. METHODS: A population-based study was conducted among 2,620 CRC patients diagnosed between 2000 and 2009, who completed measures of personality (DS14), health behaviors, QoL (EORTC QLQ-C30), and mental distress (hospital anxiety and depression scale). RESULTS: Personality was not associated with body mass index or smoking. Those scoring high on NA (with or without SI) were more often nondrinkers and less physically active compared to those scoring high on neither or only SI. Personality (high scores NA) and health behaviors (inactivity) were independently associated with poor QoL and mental distress. CONCLUSIONS: CRC survivors with high scores on NA are at risk of being inactive and have worse health outcomes

A new three-step method for using inverse propensity weighting with latent class analysis

Bias-adjusted three-step latent class analysis (LCA) is widely popular to relate covariates to class membership. However, if the causal effect of a treatment on class membership is of interest and only observational data is available, causal inference techniques such as inverse propensity weighting (IPW) need to be used. In this article, we extend the bias-adjusted three-step LCA to incorporate IPW. This approach separates the estimation of the measurement model from the estimation of the treatment effect using IPW only for the later step. Compared to previous methods, this solves several conceptual issues and more easily facilitates model selection and the use of multiple imputation. This new approach, implemented in the software Latent GOLD, is evaluated in a simulation study and its use is illustrated using data of prostate cancer patients