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Objective: Long-term studies following disasters are rare. It is important to quantify long-term effects of disasters to determine impacts on populations over time. We therefore aim to report the long-term associations between exposure to the Canterbury earthquakes and common mental disorders, taking into account potential confounding factors. Methods: The Christchurch Health and Development Study is a 40-year longitudinal study of a birth cohort of New Zealand children (635 males and 630 females). The Christchurch Health and Development Study includes 884 participants with data on earthquake exposure and mental health outcomes at ages 34 and 40 years. Rates of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) disorders were measured categorically and using an expanded definition that included sub-syndromal symptoms. The current impact of the earthquakes is reported using 12-month prevalence data 7 years after the earthquakes. The cumulative impact of the earthquakes over the 7 years since onset is also reported. Results: There was a linear trend towards increasing rates of disorder with increasing exposure to the earthquakes. After adjusting for covariates, the 12-month prevalence of anxiety disorder symptoms was significantly increased (p = 0.003). The earthquakes were also associated with cumulative increases in symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (p < 0.001), anxiety disorder (p = 0.016), nicotine dependence (p = 0.012), and the total number of disorders (p = 0.039). Conclusion: The Canterbury earthquakes were associated with persistent increases in Anxiety Disorder symptoms 7 years after their onset. The earthquakes were also associated with cumulative increases in symptoms of common psychiatric disorders. The magnitude of these effects is small, may no longer be clinically significant and has decreased over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Little is known about how cannabis use over the life‐course relates to harms in adulthood. The present study aimed to identify trajectories of cannabis use from adolescence to adulthood and examine both the predictors of these trajectories and adverse adult outcomes associated with those trajectories. Design A latent trajectory analysis of a longitudinal birth cohort (from birth to age 35 years). Setting and participants: General community sample (n = 1065) from New Zealand. Measurement Annual frequency of cannabis use (ages 15–35 years); childhood family and individual characteristics (birth to age 16 years); measures of adult outcomes (substance use disorders, ages 30–35 years; mental health disorders, ages 30–35 years; socio‐economic outcomes at age 35 years; social/family outcomes at age 35 years). Findings A six‐class solution was the best fit to the data. Individuals assigned to trajectories with higher levels of cannabis use were more likely to have experienced adverse childhood family and individual circumstances. Membership of trajectories with higher levels of use was associated with increased risk of adverse outcomes at ages 30–35 years. Adjustment of these associations for the childhood family and individual predictors largely did not reduce the magnitude of the associations. Conclusions: In New Zealand, long‐term frequent cannabis use, or transition to such use, appears to be robustly associated with diverse harms in adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Nepal, many rural households need access to public forest resources to complement private resources for food and livestock production. However, current forest policies are largely directed at environmental protection. The first part of this study identified the effect of current forest policy on livestock production using survey data from 259 households in three Nepal hill districts. The second part used a forestry-agriculture integrated model to examine alternative land use policies that could increase household livestock holdings and income while maintaining the environmental services of the community forest. The results show that current forest policies contributed to reductions in potential household livestock holdings by 34% for goats, 30% for cattle and 27% for buffalo. This exacerbated problems of farm fertility and food shortages in vulnerable and poor households. Modeling of alternative policy scenarios indicates that livestock holdings and income could both be increased for most households in communities practicing agroforestry while still maintaining environmental protection. The increase could be highest for the poorest households. Finally, the article discusses potential implications of new environmental policies on local food security and sustainability in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple mental health disorders affect on decisions of people. The disorders are also outcomes of other factors. Health studies commonly follow an inverse propensity weight (IPW) method to address estimation errors associated with the presence of one confounder or covariate number exceeding the recommended sample size. However, approaches of IPW appropriate to alleviate the estimation error associated with multiple confounders distributed unequally in the study samples were not explained in our search literature. This study used longitudinal cohort data from Christchurch Health and Development Study and demonstrated IPW approach to address two confounders with similar natures in terms of etiological process. In our sample, some individuals had no mental health disorder at all, while others had either one of depression or anxiety or both. The methodological step to evaluate a new IPW approach include * Estimated IPWs from all possible combinations of the major depression and anxiety disorder: (a) IPW based on anxiety factor only assuming both mental health problems resulted from the same etiological processes; (b) IPW based on major depression factor only assuming both mental health problems resulted from the same etiological processes; (c) IPW assuming three (independent) categories of etiological processes: neither; either; both of major depression or anxiety disorder, (d) IPW assuming four (independent) categories of etiological processes: neither; major depression only; any anxiety disorder only; both. (e) No IPW or control model (no confounding problem.•Estimated outcome model with one each IPW at a time and one without IPw (control model).•Compared fit statistics of all estimated models.•The IPW derived assuming four categories of etiological processes produced the robust based fit statistics criteria. The study showed significant effects of both mental health problems on investment but the anxiety revealed a stronger effect than that of major depression., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 Published by Elsevier B.V.)