Search

International studies measuring wellbeing/multidimensional mental health before/ during the COVID-19 pandemic, including representative samples for >2 years, identifying risk groups and coping strategies are lacking. COH-FIT is an online, international, anonymous survey measuring changes in well-being (WHO-5) and a composite psychopathology P-score, and their associations with COVID-19 deaths/restrictions, 12 a-priori defined risk individual/cumulative factors, and coping strategies during COVID-19 pandemic (26/04/2020-26/06/2022) in 30 languages (representative, weighted non-representative, adults). T-test, χ 2 , penalized cubic splines, linear regression, correlation analyses were conducted. Analyzing 121,066/142,364 initiated surveys, WHO-5/P-score worsened intra-pandemic by 11.1±21.1/13.2±17.9 points (effect size d=0.50/0.60) (comparable results in representative/weighted non-probability samples). Persons with WHO-5 scores indicative of depression screening (<50, 13% to 32%) and major depression (<29, 3% to 12%) significantly increased. WHO-5 worsened from those with mental disorders, female sex, COVID-19-related loss, low-income country location, physical disorders, healthcare worker occupations, large city location, COVID-19 infection, unemployment, first-generation immigration, to age=18-29 with a cumulative effect. Similar findings emerged for P-score. Changes were significantly but minimally related to COVID-19 deaths, returning to near-pre-pandemic values after >2 years. The most subjectively effective coping strategies were exercise and walking, internet use, social contacts. Identified risk groups, coping strategies and outcome trajectories can inform global public health strategies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Conflict of interest statements of all authors are detailed in eTable 8., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: People with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) frequently present cognitive impairments. Here, we investigated whether the exposome score for schizophrenia (ES-SCZ) - a cumulative environmental exposure score - was associated with impairments of neurocognition, social cognition, and perception in patients with SSD, their unaffected siblings, and healthy controls., Methods: This cross-sectional sample consisted of 1200 patients, 1371 siblings, and 1564 healthy controls. Neurocognition, social cognition, and perception were assesed using a short version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III), the Degraded Facial Affect Recognition Task (DFAR), and the Benton Facial Recognition Test (BFR), respectively. Regression models were used to analyze the association between ES-SCZ and cognitive domains in each group., Results: There were no statistically significant associations between ES-SCZ and cognitive domains in SSD. ES-SCZ was negatively associated with T-score of cognition in siblings (B=-0.40, 95% CI -0.76 to -0.03) and healthy controls (B=-0.63, 95% CI -1.06 to -0.21). Additionally, ES-SCZ was positively associated with DFAR-total in siblings (B=0.83, 95% CI 0.26 to 1.40). Sensitivity analyses excluding cannabis use history from ES-SCZ largely confirmed the main findings., Conclusions: Longitudinal cohorts may elucidate how environmental exposures influence the onset and course of cognitive impairments in trans-syndromic psychosis spectrum., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Celso Arango has been a consultant to or has received honoraria or grants from Acadia, Angelini, Biogen, Boehringer, Gedeon Richter, Janssen Cilag, Lundbeck, Medscape, Menarini, Minerva, Otsuka, Pfizer, Roche, Sage, Servier, Shire, Schering Plough, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma, Sunovion and Takeda. Julio Bobes has received research grants and served as a consultant, advisor, or speaker within the last 5 years for AB-Biotics, Acadia Pharmaceuticals, Alkermes, Allergan, Ambrosetti-Angelini, Biogen, Casen Recordati, D&A Pharma, Exeltis, Gilead, Indivior, GW Pharmaceuticals, Janssen-Cilag, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Lundbeck, Mundipharma, Newron, Otsuka, Pfizer, Roche, Sage Therapeutics, Servier, Schwabe Farma Ibérica, Shire, and Takeda and has received research funding from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competiveness –Centro de Investigación Biomedica en Red area de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM) and Instituto de Salud Carlos III– and the Spanish Ministry of Health. Maria Paz García-Portilla has been a consultant to and/or has received honoraria/grants from Angelini, Otsuka-Lundbeck Alliance, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Janssen-Cilag, Lundbeck, Otsuka, Pfizer, and Sage Therapeutics. Pilar A. Sáiz has been a consultant to and/or has received honoraria/research grants from Adamed, Alter Medica, Angelini Pharma, CIBERSAM, Ethypharm Digital Therapy, European Commission, Government of the Principality of Asturias, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Janssen-Cilag, Lundbeck, Otsuka, Pfizer, Plan Nacional Sobre Drogas, and Servier. Miguel Bernardo has been a consultant for, received grant/research support and honoraria from, and been on the speakers/advisory board of ABBiotics, Adamed, Angelini, Casen Recordati, Janssen-Cilag, Menarini, Rovi and Takeda., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

An increasing number of studies highlighted significant correlations between autistic traits (AT) and mood spectrum symptoms. Moreover, recent data showed that individuals with high AT are likely to develop trauma and stressor-related disorders. This study aims to investigate the relationship between AT and mood symptoms among university students, focusing in particular on how AT interact with ruminations and trauma-related symptomatology in predicting mood symptoms. 178 students from three Italian Universities of excellence were assessed with The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5), the Adult Autism Subthreshold Spectrum (AdAS Spectrum), the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS), the Trauma and Loss Spectrum (TALS) and the Moods Spectrum (MOODS). Considering the AdAS Spectrum total scores, 133 subjects (74.7%) were categorized as "low scorers" and 45 subjects (25.3%) as "high scorers". Students in the high scorer group showed significantly higher scores on RRS, TALS-SR and MOOD-SR total scores. Total and direct effects of AdAS Spectrum total score on MOODS-SR total score were both statistically significant. AdAS Spectrum total score also showed a significant indirect effect on MOODS-SR total score through TALS and RRS total scores. Results showed a significant relationship between AT and mood spectrum, which is partially mediated by ruminations and trauma/stressor-related symptomatology., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of life-long neurodevelopmental conditions with a prevalence of 1.5% in developed countries. Beside core symptomatology, ASD people are frequently affected by psychiatric comorbidities and behavioral problems. To date, only risperidone and aripiprazole have been approved for the pharmacological treatment of ASD-associated irritability in children and adolescents, while no guidelines exist for adults. The present cross-sectional study examined the prevalence and predictors of psychotropic medication use in 195 autistic subjects, aged between 14 and 58, treated in two Italian tertiary care centers. 58.5% of the sample were taking at least one medication; one third of the sample were on polypharmacotherapy. Antipsychotics were prescribed to 40% of the sample. Nearly 30% of the sample were on anticonvulsants/mood stabilizers. Both antidepressants and benzodiazepines were prescribed to approximately 16% of the subjects. IQ, epilepsy and psychiatric comorbidities were regarded as independent predictors of both mono- and polypharmacotherapy, while severity of repetitive behaviors predicted only polypharmacotherapy. Our data highlighted that medications prescribed to adolescents and adults with ASD are heterogeneous and often rely only on clinicians' experience. Future research should investigate the effectiveness of psychotropic drugs in this specific population, to promote the development of appropriate treatment guidelines., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)