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Objective: The study aimed to evaluate the impact of a 15-month intervention on dietary intake conducted among obesity-prone normal-weight pre-school children.Design: Information on dietary intake was obtained using a 4 d diet record. A diet quality index was adapted to assess how well children's diet complied with the Danish national guidelines. Linear regression per protocol and intention-to-treat analyses of differences in intakes of energy, macronutrients, fruit, vegetables, fish, sugar-sweetened beverages and diet quality index between the two groups were conducted.Setting: The Healthy Start study was conducted during 2009-2011, focusing on changing diet, physical activity, sleep and stress management to prevent excessive weight gain among Danish children.Subjects: From a population of 635 Danish pre-school children, who had a high birth weight (≥4000 g), high maternal pre-pregnancy BMI (≥28·0 kg/m2) or low maternal educational level (<10 years of schooling), 285 children completed the intervention and had complete information on dietary intake.Results: Children in the intervention group had a lower energy intake after the 15-month intervention (group means: 5·29 v. 5·59 MJ, P=0·02) compared with the control group. We observed lower intakes of carbohydrates and added sugar in the intervention group compared with the control group after the intervention (P=0·002, P=0·01).Conclusions: The intervention resulted in a lower energy intake, particularly from carbohydrates and added sugar after 15 months of intervention, suggesting that dietary intake can be changed in a healthier direction in children predisposed to obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several neurological variables have been investigated as premorbid biomarkers of vulnerability for schizophrenia and other related disorders. The current study examined whether childhood dyspraxia predicted later adult nonaffective-psychosis-spectrum disorders. From a standardized neurological examination performed with children (aged 10-13) at genetic high risk of schizophrenia and controls, several measures of dyspraxia were used to create a scale composed of face/head dyspraxia, oral articulation, ideomotor dyspraxia (clumsiness), and dressing dyspraxia (n = 244). Multinomial logistic regression showed higher scores on the dyspraxia scale predict nonaffective-psychosis-spectrum disorders relative to other psychiatric disorders and no mental illness outcomes, even after controlling for genetic risk, x2 (4, 244) = 18.61, p < .001. Findings that symptoms of dyspraxia in childhood (reflecting abnormalities spanning functionally distinct brain networks) specifically predict adult nonaffective--psychosis-spectrum disorders are consistent with a theory of abnormal connectivity, and they highlight a marked early-stage vulnerability in the pathophysiology of nonaffective-psychosis-spectrum disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Disturbances in the central nervous system originating during foetal life may increase the risk of schizophrenia.Aims: To illuminate the hypothesis that prenatal exposure to analgesics may affect foetal neurodevelopment, leading to increased risk of schizophrenia in adulthood.Method: Using data from the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort and from the Danish Psychiatric Central Register, we studied the relationship between prenatal exposure to analgesics and the risk of schizophrenia. The effect of prenatal exposure was adjusted for parental history of schizophrenia, second-trimester viral infections, concomitant drug treatment during pregnancy, an index of pregnancy complications, parental social status and parental age.Results: In a risk set of 7999 individuals, 116 cases of schizophrenia were found (1.5%). Prenatal exposure to analgesics in the second trimester was associated with an elevated risk (adjusted odds ratio 4.75, 95% CI1.9-12.0). Independent of the covariates, the effect remained statistically significant.Conclusions: Independent of a wide range of possible confounders, a significant association between second-trimester exposure to analgesics and increased risk of schizophrenia was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies examining the relationship between early-life IQ and the risk of subsequent psychiatric disorder in adulthood are scarce. In the present investigation, the childhood IQ scores of 7022 singleton-born Danish males were linked to psychiatric hospital discharge records in adulthood. IQ scores were inversely related to the risk of total psychiatric illness, with the highest levels apparent in the lowest scoring IQ group (HRlowest quintile v. highest=1.70, 95% CI 1.34-2.14). Adjusting for paternal occupational social class and birth weight had only a small attenuating effect. Low childhood IQ may have an aetiological role in the development of adult total psychiatric disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Studies of the association between pre-deployment cognitive ability and post-deployment post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have shown mixed results., Aims: To study the influence of pre-deployment cognitive ability on PTSD symptoms 6-8 months post-deployment in a large population while controlling for pre-deployment education and deployment-related variables., Method: Study linking prospective pre-deployment conscription board data with post-deployment self-reported data in 9695 Danish Army personnel deployed to different war zones in 1997-2013. The association between pre-deployment cognitive ability and post-deployment PTSD was investigated using repeated-measure logistic regression models. Two models with cognitive ability score as the main exposure variable were created (model 1 and model 2). Model 1 was only adjusted for pre-deployment variables, while model 2 was adjusted for both pre-deployment and deployment-related variables., Results: When including only variables recorded pre-deployment (cognitive ability score and educational level) and gender (model 1), all variables predicted post-deployment PTSD. When deployment-related variables were added (model 2), this was no longer the case for cognitive ability score. However, when educational level was removed from the model adjusted for deployment-related variables, the association between cognitive ability and post-deployment PTSD became significant., Conclusions: Pre-deployment lower cognitive ability did not predict post-deployment PTSD independently of educational level after adjustment for deployment-related variables., Declaration of Interest: None., Copyright and Usage: © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2017. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license.

Background: Disturbances in the central nervous system originating during foetal life may increase the risk of schizophrenia., Aims: To illuminate the hypothesis that prenatal exposure to analgesics may affect foetal neurodevelopment, leading to increased risk of schizophrenia in adulthood., Method: Using data from the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort and from the Danish Psychiatric Central Register, we studied the relationship between prenatal exposure to analgesics and the risk of schizophrenia. The effect of prenatal exposure was adjusted for parental history of schizophrenia, second-trimester viral infections, concomitant drug treatment during pregnancy, an index of pregnancy complications, parental social status and parental age., Results: In a risk set of 7999 individuals, 116 cases of schizophrenia were found (1.5%). Prenatal exposure to analgesics in the second trimester was associated with an elevated risk (adjusted odds ratio 4.75, 95% CI1.9-12.0). Independent of the covariates, the effect remained statistically significant., Conclusions: Independent of a wide range of possible confounders, a significant association between second-trimester exposure to analgesics and increased risk of schizophrenia was observed.