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Childhood adversity is associated with various clinical dimensions in psychosis; however, how genetic vulnerability shapes the adversity-associated psychopathological signature is yet to be studied. We studied data of 583 First Episode Psychosis (FEP) cases from the EU-GEI FEP case-control study, including Polygenic risk scores for major depressive disorder (MDD-PRS), bipolar disorder (BD-PRS) and schizophrenia (SZ-PRS); childhood adversity measured with the total score of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ); and positive, negative, depressive and manic psychopathological domains from a factor model of transdiagnostic dimensions. Genes and environment interactions were explored as a departure from a multiplicative effect of PRSs and total CTQ on each dimension. Analyses were adjusted for age, sex, 10 PCA, site of recruitment and for medication. A childhood adversity and PRS multiplicative interaction was observed between A) the CTQ and MDD-PRS on the predominance of positive (β = 0.42, 95% CI = [0.155, 0.682], p = 0.004); and depressive (β = 0.33, 95% CI = [0.071, 0.591], p = 0.013) dimensions; B) between the CTQ and BD-PRS on the positive dimension (β = 0.45, 95% CI = [0.106, 0.798], p = 0.010), and C) with the CTQ and SZ-PRS on the positive dimension (β = -0.34, 95% CI = [-0.660, -0.015], p = 0.040). Bonferroni corrected p-value of significance was set at 0.0125. In conclusion, despite being underpowered, this study suggests that genetic liability for MDD and BD may have a moderating effect on the sensibility of childhood adversity on depressive and positive psychotic dimensions. This supports the hypothesis of an affective pathway to psychosis in those exposed to childhood adversity., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) is associated with clinical outcomes in people with a diagnosis of first-episode psychosis (FEP), but factors associated with length of DUP are still poorly understood. Aiming to obtain insights into the possible biological impact on DUP, we report genetic analyses of a large multi-center phenotypically well-defined sample encompassing individuals with a diagnosis of FEP recruited from 6 countries spanning 17 research sites, as part of the European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) study. Genetic propensity was measured using polygenic scores for schizophrenia (SZ-PGS), bipolar disorder (BD-PGS), major depressive disorder (MDD-PGS), and intelligence (IQ-PGS), which were calculated based on the results from the most recent genome-wide association meta-analyses. Following imputation for missing data and log transformation of DUP to handle skewedness, the association between DUP and polygenic scores (PGS), adjusting for important confounders, was investigated with multivariable linear regression models. The sample comprised 619 individuals with a diagnosis of FEP disorders with a median age at first contact of 29.0 years (interquartile range [IQR] = 22.0-38.0). The median length of DUP in the sample was 10.1 weeks (IQR = 3.8-30.8). One SD increases in SZ-PGS, BD-PGS, MDD-PGS or IQ-PGS were not significantly associated with the length of DUP. Our results suggest that genetic variation does not contribute to the DUP in patients with a diagnosis of FEP disorders., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center.)

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of health-related behaviors according to presence and type of depression in Brazilian adults., Methods: Based on a sample of 49,025 adults (18 to 59 years) from the National Survey on Health 2013 (PNS 2013), we estimated the prevalence of health-related behaviors (smoking; passive smoking; frequent or risky alcohol consumption; leisure time physical activity; time watching TV; and eating pattern indicators), according to the presence of depression (minor and major), evaluated by the Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9), and the report of depressive mood (in up to seven days or more than seven days) over a two-week period. Prevalence ratios were estimated by Poisson regression., Results: Evaluated by the PHQ-9 scale, 9.7% of the Brazilian adults had depression and 3.9% presented major depression. About 21.0% reported depressive mood and, in 34.9% of them, that feeling has been present for more than seven days. In individuals with major depression (PHQ-9), higher prevalence was found in almost all unhealthy behaviors analyzed, in particular, smoking (PR = 1.65), passive smoking (PR = 1.55), risk alcohol consumption (PR = 1.72), TV for ≥ 5 hours/day (PR = 2.13), consumption of fat meat (PR = 1.43) and soft drink (PR = 1.42). The prevalence ratios tended to be lower in those with minor depression. Similar results were observed in adults with depressive mood., Conclusions: This study detected relevant association between depression and health behaviors, in particular for smoking and physical activity. The associations found with the PHQ were similar to those observed with the application of a single question about depressive mood. Our results indicate the importance of assessing the presence of depression and the frequency and severity of symptoms when implementing actions for the promotion of healthy behaviors.

Objectives: To identify work-related factors associated with depressive symptoms and probable major depression in primary care teams., Methods: Cross-sectional study among primary care teams (community health workers, nursing assistants, nurses, and physicians) in the city of São Paulo, Brazil (2011-2012; n = 2940), to assess depressive symptoms and probable major depression and their associations with job strain and other work-related conditions., Results: Community health workers presented higher prevalence of probable major depression (18%) than other primary care workers. Higher odds ratios for depressive symptoms or probable major depression were associated with longer duration of employment in primary care; having a passive, active, or high-strain job; lack of supervisor feedback regarding performance; and low social support from colleagues and supervisors., Conclusions: Observed levels of job-related depression can endanger the sustainability of primary care programs. Public Health implications. Strategies are needed to deliver care to primary care workers with depression, facilitating diagnosis and access to treatment, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Preventive interventions can include training managers to provide feedback and creating strategies to increase job autonomy and social support at work.

Purpose: Implementation of primary care has long been a priority in low- and middle-income countries. Violence at work may hamper progress in this field. Hence, we examined the associations between violence at work and depressive symptoms/major depression in primary care teams (physicians, nurses, nursing assistants, and community health workers)., Methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. We assessed a random sample of Family Health Program teams. We investigated depressive symptoms and major depression using the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and exposure to violence at work in the previous 12 months using a standardized questionnaire. Associations between exposure to violence and depressive symptoms/major depression were analyzed using multinomial logistic regression., Results: Of 3141 eligible workers, 2940 (93 %) completed the interview. Of these, 36.3 % (95 % CI 34.6-38.1) presented intermediate depressive symptoms, and 16 % (95 % CI 14.6-17.2), probable major depression. The frequencies of exposure to the different types of violence at work were: insults (44.9 %), threats (24.8 %), physical aggression (2.3 %), and witnessing violence (29.5 %). These exposures were strongly and progressively associated with depressive symptoms (adjusted odds ratio 1.67 for exposure to one type of violence; and 5.10 for all four types), and probable major depression (adjusted odds ratio 1.84 for one type; and 14.34 for all four types)., Conclusion: Primary care workers presenting depressive symptoms and those who have experienced violence at work should be assisted. Policy makers should prioritize strategies to prevent these problems, since they can threaten primary care sustainability.

Objective: To investigate the recognition of depressive symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD) by general practitioners., Introduction: MDD is underdiagnosed in medical settings, possibly because of difficulties in the recognition of specific depressive symptoms., Methods: A cross-sectional study of 316 outpatients at their first visit to a teaching general hospital. We evaluated the performance of 19 general practitioners using Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD) to detect depressive symptoms and compared them to 11 psychiatrists using Structured Clinical Interview Axis I Disorders, Patient Version (SCID I/P). We measured likelihood ratios, sensitivity, specificity, and false positive and false negative frequencies., Results: The lowest positive likelihood ratios were for psychomotor agitation/retardation (1.6) and fatigue (1.7), mostly because of a high rate of false positive results. The highest positive likelihood ratio was found for thoughts of suicide (8.5). The lowest sensitivity, 61.8%, was found for impaired concentration. The sensitivity for worthlessness or guilt in patients with medical illness was 67.2% (95% CI, 57.4-76.9%), which is significantly lower than that found in patients without medical illness, 91.3% (95% CI, 83.2-99.4%)., Discussion: Less adequately identified depressive symptoms were both psychological and somatic in nature. The presence of a medical illness may decrease the sensitivity of recognizing specific depressive symptoms., Conclusions: Programs for training physicians in the use of diagnostic tools should consider their performance in recognizing specific depressive symptoms. Such procedures could allow for the development of specific training to aid in the detection of the most misrecognized depressive symptoms.

Background: Studies investigating the performance of instruments to detect major depressive disorder (MDD) have reported inconsistent results. Subsyndromal depression (SD) has also been associated to increased morbidity, and little is known about its detection in primary care setting. This study aimed to investigate the performance of the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD) to detect MDD and any depression (threshold at SD) in an outpatient unit of a teaching general hospital., Methods: Nineteen primary care physicians using the PRIME-MD evaluated 577 patients, 240 of them (75% female; mean age, 40.0 +/- 14.4), including all with MDD and a randomly subset of those without MDD, were evaluated by 11 psychiatrists using the Structured Clinical Interview Axis I Disorders, Patient Version (SCIDI/P) for DSM-IV as the standard instrument., Results: The kappa between the PRIME-MD and the SCID was 0.42 for the diagnosis of any depression and 0.32 for MDD. The distribution of the number of depressive symptoms per patient suggested the existence of a continuum between SD and MDD, and a high frequency of subjects with 4-6 symptoms (close to the cutoff for the diagnosis of MDD)., Limitations: The sample has a modest size and is a subset of an original one., Conclusion: A continuum between SD and MDD may in part explain the relatively low agreement for the diagnosis of MDD in our sample and possibly in other studies. Studies investigating the performance of screening instruments to detect MDD, should consider the relevance of identifying SD, and the influence of the distribution of the number of depressive symptoms in their results.