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Purpose Fear of crime and perceived neighbourhood disorder have been linked to common mental illness (CMI). However, few UK studies have also considered the experience of crime at the individual and neighbourhood level. This study aims to identify individual and local area factors associated with increased perceived neighbourhood disorder and test associations between CMI and individuals’ perceptions of disorder in their neighbourhoods, personal experiences of crime and neighbourhood crime rates. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted of 1,698 adults living in 1,075 households in Lambeth and Southwark, London. CMI was assessed using the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule. Data were analysed using multilevel logistic regression with neighbourhood defined as lower super output area. Results Individuals who reported neighbourhood disorder were more likely to suffer CMI (OR 2.12) as were those with individual experience of crime. These effects remained significant when individual characteristics were controlled for. While 14 % of the variance in perceived neighbourhood disorder occurred at the neighbourhood level, there was no significant variance at this level for CMI. Conclusions Perceived neighbourhood disorder is more common in income-deprived areas and individuals who are unemployed. Worry about one’s local area and individual experience of crime are strongly and independently associated with CMI, but neighbourhood crime rates do not appear to impact on mental health.

Background Inflammatory markers, such as circulating cytokines, influence neurotransmitter systems and brain functionality related to psychiatric disease pathology. Previous studies have revealed heightened circulating levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the blood of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) patients, which suggests they may have utility as clinically informative biomarkers to aid in the diagnosis of MDD. However, most previous studies have only focused on a small number of inflammatory markers (e.g. C-reactive protein, interleukin-6) and most have failed to co-vary for potentially important confounding factors. Methods We assessed 42 inflammatory markers in the blood (serum) of 321 control subjects and 887 MDD cases using multiplex electrochemiluminescence methods. We tested whether individual inflammatory marker levels were significantly affected by MDD case/control status, current episode, or current depression severity, co-varying for age, sex, Body Mass Index (BMI), smoking, current antidepressant use, ethnicity, assay batch and study effects. We further used machine learning algorithms to investigate if we could use our data to blindly diagnose MDD patients or discriminate those in a current episode. We used the false discovery rate (q Results We found broad and powerful influences of confounding factors on log-protein levels. Notably, IL-6 levels were very strongly influenced by Body Mass Index (BMI; p=1.37×10–43, variance explained=18%), while Interleukin-16 was the most significant predictor of current depressive episode (p=0.003, variance explained=0.9%, q Discussion To conclude, a wide panel of inflammatory markers alongside clinical information may aid in predicting the onset of symptoms via a machine learning approach, but no single inflammatory proteins are likely to represent clinically useful biomarkers for MDD diagnosis or prognosis. Our study also highlights the need for confounding factors, particularly BMI, to be considered in all future studies pertaining to inflammatory markers.

This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its association with traumatic events in a representative sample of an inner city population in the UK. A representative community sample of 1,698 adults, aged 16 years and over, from two south London boroughs were interviewed face to face with structured survey questionnaires. The prevalence of current symptoms of PTSD was 5.5 %. Women were more likely to screen positive (6.4 %) than men (3.6 %), and symptoms of PTSD were high in the unemployed (12.5 %), in those not working because of health reasons (18.2 %) and in the lowest household income group (14.8 %). Most (78.2 %) of the study population had lifetime trauma and more than a third (39.7 %) reported childhood trauma. There was an independent association between childhood as well as lifetime trauma and current symptoms of PTSD and a gradient association between an increase in cumulative traumatic events and the likelihood of reporting symptoms of current PTSD (OR 1.8, 95 % CI (1.6–2.1)). Although we observed the highest prevalence of current symptoms of PTSD in those migrated for asylum or political reason (13.6 %), compared to the non-migrants, the prevalence of exposure to most traumatic life events was higher in the non-migrant group. The present study demonstrates the high prevalence of exposure to trauma in a South East London community and the cumulative effect on current symptoms of PTSD. As PTSD is a condition which is associated with disability and co-morbidity, the association of current PTSD with common adversities in the community should be noted.