The mental health of Filipino-born women 5 and 14 years after they have given birth in Australia: a longitudinal study

It has been suggested that Filipino brides may be 'at risk' of social isolation and mental health impairment after migrating to Australia to marry Australian men. This paper examines the mental health of a cohort of Filipino and Australian-born women who became mothers in Australia, and investigates the relationship between place of birth, social network size and symptoms of poor mental health. The data was taken from the Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy (MUSP), a longitudinal study of mothers and children instigated in 1981. Symptoms of anxiety and depression and social network size were assessed at their first clinic visit (FCV), and followed up at 5 and 14 years. Filipino-born mothers had smaller social networks at the birth of their child, and reported more symptoms of anxiety arid depression at FCV and 5 years follow-up (F/U), but did not differ from their Australian counterparts 14 years later. We conclude that Filipino-born migrants experience greater distress and poorer social networks than Australian-born mothers in the early years after they have given birth to a child in Australia. Further, that over a period of time, the decrease in mental health symptoms indicates the adaptation of Filipino-born women to their new environment

Screening for risk of later mental health problems: a longitudinal study

Purpose: This is one of the first studies to report that the Achenbach internalising scales were much more effective at identifying those with current comorbid depression and anxiety, rather than individual mood disorder. Introduction: The Achenbach behaviour checklists (YSR,YASR) are widely used, low cost screening tools used to assess problem behaviour. Several studies report good association between the checklists and psychiatric diagnoses; although with varying degrees of agreement. Most are cross-sectional studies involving adolescents referred to mental health services; few are in large community-based studies. This study examined the usefulness of the Achenbach internalising scales in the primary screening (both predictive and concurrent)for depression and anxiety. Methods: The sample was 2400 young adults from an Australian population-based prospective birth cohort study. The association between the empirical anxiety and depression scales were individually assessed against DSM-IV depression and anxiety diagnoses. Odds ratios and diagnostic efficiency tests report the findings. Results: Adolescents with internalising symptoms were twice (OR 2.3, 95%CI 1.7 to 3.1) as likely to be diagnosed with later DSM-IV depression. YASR internalising scale predicted DSM-IV mood disorders (depression OR = 6.9, 95% CI 5.0–9.5; anxiety OR = 5.1, 95% CI 3.8–6.7) in the previous 12 months. The internalising scales were much more effective at identifying those with comorbid depression and anxiety. Conclusions: Adolescence and early adulthood are key risk periods for the onset of anxiety and depression. This study found that young people with internalising behaviour problems were more likely to have comorbid depression and anxiety DSM-IV disorder

Associations between self-reported symptoms of prenatal maternal infection and post-traumatic stress disorder in offspring: Evidence from a prospective birth cohort study

© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Objective Consistent evidence has linked a range of prenatal maternal infections with psychotic disorders in later life. However, the potential for this exposure to impact more common disorders requires further investigation. Methods Participants came from the Mater University Study of pregnancy, a longitudinal, pre-birth cohort study which recruited pregnant mothers from a Brisbane hospital between 1981 and 1984. At age 21, 2439 offspring completed the CIDI-Auto. Multivariate logistic regression was used to investigate associations of self-reported symptoms of prenatal infection with a range of DSM-IV anxiety and affective diagnoses, while also testing for gender interactions. Results In multivariate analyses, self-reported symptoms of prenatal genital infection predicted Post-traumatic stress disorders (OR=2.38, 95% CI: 1.14, 4.95) and social phobias (OR=1.93, 95% CI: 1.03, 3.61), in addition to evidence for a gender interaction by which males (OR=6.04, 95% CI: 2.00, 18.30) but not females were at greater risk for PTSD. Further analyses among those with PTSD revealed the relationship to be stronger when excluding those not exposed to trauma (OR=3.21, 95% CI: 1.53, 6.72). Limitations We were unable to clinically or serologically verify the presence and the type of prenatal genital infection. Conclusion This is the first study to show an association between self-reported symptoms of prenatal genital infections and two highly prevalent anxiety disorders among adult offspring. The relationship with PTSD was particularly strong and suggested that the exposure may primarily impact PTSD in males. Further research with the capacity to assess a fuller-range of specific prenatal infections is warranted to evaluate the potential of reducing the prevalence of these disorders

Exposure to stressful life events during pregnancy predicts psychotic experiences via behaviour problems in childhood

© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Background: Exposure to stressful life events during pregnancy has been associated with later schizophrenia in offspring. We explore how prenatal stress and neurodevelopmental abnormalities in childhood associate to increase the risk of later psychotic experiences. Methods: Participants from the Mater University Study of Pregnancy (MUSP), an Australian based, pre-birth cohort study were examined for lifetime DSM-IV positive psychotic experiences at 21 years by a semi-structured interview (n=2227). Structural equation modelling suggested psychotic experiences were best represented with a bifactor model including a general psychosis factor and two group factors. We tested for an association between prenatal stressful life events with the psychotic experiences, and examined for potential moderation and mediation by behaviour problems and cognitive ability in childhood. Results: Prenatal stressful life events predicted psychotic experiences indirectly via behaviour problems at child age five years, and this relationship was not confounded by maternal stressful life events at child age five. We found no statistical evidence for an interaction between prenatal stressful life events and behaviour problems or cognitive ability. Conclusion: The measurable effect of prenatal stressful life events on later psychotic experiences in offspring manifested as behaviour problems by age 5. By identifying early abnormal behavioural development as an intermediary, this finding further confirms the role of prenatal stress to later psychotic disorders

A genome-wide association study of total child psychiatric problems scores: summary statistics

Summary statistics for EAGLE GWAS on total child psychiatric problems scores. Data is provided in R binary format and can be loaded within R with load("total_child_psychiatric_GWAS.Rdata"). snp: SNP RS ID effect_allele: Effect allele other_allele: Other allele beta: Change in total psychiatric problem score in SD per number of effect allele se: Standard Error p: p-value n: Sample Size For more information, see PLOS ONE publication: Neumann A, Nolte IM, [...], Hartman C & Tiemeier H. A genome-wide association study of total child psychiatric problems scores. PloS one. 2022 Aug 22;17(8):e0273116. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273116 Abstract: Substantial genetic correlations have been reported across psychiatric disorders and numerous cross-disorder genetic variants have been detected. To identify the genetic variants underlying general psychopathology in childhood, we performed a genome-wide association study using a total psychiatric problem score. We analyzed 6,844,199 common SNPs in 38,418 school-aged children from 20 population-based cohorts participating in the EArly Genetics and Lifecourse Epidemiology (EAGLE) consortium. The SNP heritability of total psychiatric problems was 5.4% (SE=0.01) and two loci reached genome-wide significance: rs10767094 and rs202005905. We also observed an association of SBF2, a gene associated with neuroticism in previous GWAS, with total psychiatric problems. The genetic effects underlying the total psychiatric problem score were shared with known genetic variants for common psychiatric disorders only (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, depression, insomnia) (rG > 0.49), but not with autism or the less common adult disorders (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or eating disorders) (rG < 0.01). Importantly, the total psychiatric problem score also showed at least a moderate genetic correlation of with intelligence, educational attainment, wellbeing, smoking, and body fat (rG > 0.29).The results suggest that many common genetic variants are associated with childhood psychiatric symptoms and related phenotypes in general instead of with specific symptoms. Further research is needed to establish causality and pleiotropic mechanisms between psychiatric disorders and related traits