One or Two Questions

Background and Aims. Assessing young children's mental health is a crucial and challenging task. The aim of the study was to evaluate the clinical relevance of asking parents, nurses, and young children themselves to identify children's mental health problems by only one or two questions. Methods. In regular health check-ups of 4-to 9-year-old children ( = 2682), parents and public health nurses assessed by one question whether the child had any emotional or behavioral difficulties. The child completed a self-evaluation enquiry on his/her emotional well-being. A stratified proportion of the participating parents were invited to a diagnostic interview. Results. Sensitivities were fairly good for the parents' (68%), nurses' (65%), and their combined (79%) onequestion screens. Difficulties identified by parents and nurses were major risks (OR 10-14) for any child psychiatric disorders ( < 0.001). The child's self-evaluation was related to 2-fold to 3-fold risks ( < 0.05) for any psychiatric diagnosis, for any emotional diagnosis, and for negative situational factors. Conclusion. The one-question screen for parents and public health nurses together quite adequately identified the young children with mental health problems. The child's self-evaluation provided relevant and complementary information on his/her mental health and especially emotional problems

Cutting a Long Story Short? The Clinical Relevance of Asking Parents, Nurses, and Young Children Themselves to Identify Children’s Mental Health Problems by One or Two Questions

Background and Aims. Assessing young children’s mental health is a crucial and challenging task. The aim of the study was to evaluate the clinical relevance of asking parents, nurses, and young children themselves to identify children’s mental health problems by only one or two questions. Methods. In regular health check-ups of 4- to 9-year-old children (n=2682), parents and public health nurses assessed by one question whether the child had any emotional or behavioral difficulties. The child completed a self-evaluation enquiry on his/her emotional well-being. A stratified proportion of the participating parents were invited to a diagnostic interview. Results. Sensitivities were fairly good for the parents’ (68%), nurses’ (65%), and their combined (79%) one-question screens. Difficulties identified by parents and nurses were major risks (OR 10–14) for any child psychiatric disorders (P<0.001). The child’s self-evaluation was related to 2-fold to 3-fold risks (P<0.05) for any psychiatric diagnosis, for any emotional diagnosis, and for negative situational factors. Conclusion. The one-question screen for parents and public health nurses together quite adequately identified the young children with mental health problems. The child’s self-evaluation provided relevant and complementary information on his/her mental health and especially emotional problems

Childhood predictors of later psychiatric hospital treatment: findings from the Finnish 1981 birth cohort study

Psychiatric hospital treatment (PHT) is expensive and indicates a severe disorder. Investigation of the early identification of this small patient group has though been hindered by small samples or unsatisfactory assessment in childhood. The present study aims to study the predictive association between psychopathology at age 8 using multi-informant assessment and later PHT. A nationwide birth cohort of Finnish children (n = 5,346) was assessed at age 8 to obtain information about psychopathology using the Rutter parent and teacher reports and self-reports of depressive symptoms. The main outcome was admission to any hospital with a primary diagnosis of any psychiatric disorder according to the Finnish National Hospital Discharge Register between age 13 and 24. Between age 13 and 24, 6.2% of the males and 4.1% of the females had been admitted for PHT. Among males, PHT was independently predicted by non-intact family and adult reports of conduct and of emotional symptoms, while among females by self-reported depressive symptoms. However, the combination of conduct and emotional problems was the strongest predictor for PHT in both sexes. Admission due to psychosis among males was associated with childhood conduct, attention, and emotional problems, but with emotional problems among females. Psychopathology at age 8 can be seen as a long-lasting increased risk of severe psychiatric disorders requiring hospital treatment in adolescence or early adulthood. Attention should be paid to self-reports among females and of comorbid conduct and emotional problems in both sexes in the early identification of this patient group

Psychosocial factors associated with becoming a young father in Finland: a nationwide longitudinal study

Peer reviewe

CH4_4 Fluxes Derived from Assimilation of TROPOMI XCH4_4 in CarbonTracker Europe-CH4_4: Evaluation of Seasonality and Spatial Distribution in the Northern High Latitudes

Recent advances in satellite observations of methane provide increased opportunities for inverse modeling. However, challenges exist in the satellite observation optimization and retrievals for high latitudes. In this study, we examine possibilities and challenges in the use of the total column averaged dry-air mole fractions of methane (XCH$_4$) data over land from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on board the Sentinel 5 Precursor satellite in the estimation of CH4 fluxes using the CarbonTracker Europe-CH$_4$ (CTE-CH$_4$) atmospheric inverse model. We carry out simulations assimilating two retrieval products: Netherlands Institute for Space Research’s (SRON) operational and University of Bremen’s Weighting Function Modified Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (WFM-DOAS). For comparison, we also carry out a simulation assimilating the ground-based surface data. Our results show smaller regional emissions in the TROPOMI inversions compared to the prior and surface inversion, although they are roughly within the range of the previous studies. The wetland emissions in summer and anthropogenic emissions in spring are lesser. The inversion results based on the two satellite datasets show many similarities in terms of spatial distribution and time series but also clear differences, especially in Canada, where CH$_4$ emission maximum is later, when the SRON’s operational data are assimilated. The TROPOMI inversions show higher CH$_4$ emissions from oil and gas production and coal mining from Russia and Kazakhstan. The location of hotspots in the TROPOMI inversions did not change compared to the prior, but all inversions indicated spatially more homogeneous high wetland emissions in northern Fennoscandia. In addition, we find that the regional monthly wetland emissions in the TROPOMI inversions do not correlate with the anthropogenic emissions as strongly as those in the surface inversion. The uncertainty estimates in the TROPOMI inversions are more homogeneous in space, and the regional uncertainties are comparable to the surface inversion. This indicates the potential of the TROPOMI data to better separately estimate wetland and anthropogenic emissions, as well as constrain spatial distributions. This study emphasizes the importance of quantifying and taking into account the model and retrieval uncertainties in regional levels in order to improve and derive more robust emission estimates