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AimThe aim of this study was to explore whether active participation in a longitudinal birth cohort study is associated with study participants’ health behaviour and well-being.MethodsThe subjects of this study were part of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966. The follow-up data were collected through clinical examinations and questionnaires when the cohort members were 1, 14, 31 and 46 years old. In this study, cohort participation activity was divided into three categories: active, semiactive and least active.ResultsThe total number of study participants who participated in the 46-year follow-up on both the survey and clinical trials was 6392, of which 66.5% (n=4268) participated actively in the cohort study. A total of 67.6% were female (pConclusionsThe findings indicate that participation activity is associated with better self-reported health and well-being, especially among women. With this knowledge, people can be encouraged to participate in longitudinal health research and, at the same time, may improve their own health and quality of life.

Purpose Psychoses are associated with poor labour market attachment, but few studies have compared schizophrenia (SZ) and other psychoses (OP). Moreover, studies on long-term employment trajectories over individuals’ working life courses are lacking. We compared 30 year employment trajectory patterns in a general population sample among individuals with SZ, OP, and those with no psychosis (NP). Methods Utilising the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966, we collected survey data on employment from ages 16 to 45 and detected individuals with register-based history of SZ (n = 62), OP (n = 87), or NP (n = 6464) until age 46. Through gender-specific latent class analyses on annual employment roles, we identified traditional, highly educated, self-employed, delayed and floundering employment trajectories with distinct socioeconomic characteristics. We addressed attrition by conducting weighted analyses. Results Floundering trajectories were common among individuals with SZ (79% of men, 73% of women) and OP (52% of men, 51% of women). In NP, a traditional employee trajectory was most common in men (31%), and a highly educated trajectory in women (28%). A history of psychosis was associated with heightened odds ratios (ORs; 95% confidence intervals (CIs)) for floundering trajectories in both men (SZ: 32.9 (13.3–81.4); OP: 7.4 (4.0–13.9)) and women (SZ: 9.9 (4.6–21.5); OP: 3.9 (2.1–7.1)) compared to NP. Weighted analyses produced similar results. Conclusion Most individuals with SZ or OP have floundering employee trajectories reflecting an elevated risk of unemployment and part-time work until midlife. These results indicate the importance of improving labour market attachment during the early phases of psychoses.

BACKGROUND Psychotic depression (PD) is an under-researched disorder with severe symptoms and course of illness. Little is known about gender differences relating to this condition and possible variation of prognosis based on comorbid pathology. Our aim was to analyze the effects of gender and psychiatric comorbidities on the age of illness onset and on the outcome of psychotic depression. METHODS The study was carried out in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966. We utilized register data to acquire information about lifetime psychiatric diagnoses, hospitalization, age of illness onset, rate of disability pensions and mortality. The PD group (n = 58) was defined based on a lifetime register diagnosis. We compared outcome variables in sub-groups based on gender and comorbid alcohol use or personality disorder. RESULTS The prevalence of comorbid personality disorders was 38% (22/58) and comorbid alcohol use disorders 41% (24/58). PD patients with a personality disorder diagnosis had an earlier onset age (p

Background Insufficient physical activity is risk factor for morbidity and premature mortality. This population-based birth cohort study investigated the associations between self-reported temperament at age 31 and self-reported leisure-time moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels and changes thereof from the age of 31 to the age of 46 years. Methods The study population comprised 3,084 subjects from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966. MVPA was self-reported at ages 31 and 46 years. Novelty seeking, harm avoidance, reward dependence, and persistence and their subscales were measured using Cloninger’s Temperament and Character Inventory at age 31. Four temperament clusters were used in the analyses: persistent, overactive, dependent, and passive. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the relationship between temperament and LTPA. Results The persistent and overactive temperament profiles at age 31 were positively associated with higher MVPA levels both in young adulthood and in midlife, while the passive and dependent temperaments were associated with lower MVPA levels. The overactive temperament profile was associated with a decrease in MVPA levels from young adulthood to midlife among males. Conclusion A passive temperament profile characterized by high harm avoidance is associated with a higher risk of low MVPA level than other temperament profiles over the life cycle in females. The results suggest that temperament may play a role in determining the level and sustainability of MVPA. Individual targeting and intervention tailoring for promoting physical activity should consider temperament traits.

Parental physical illnesses can be stressful for children. We estimated the prevalence of children who experience parental physical illnesses, and whether parental physical illnesses during childhood were associated with behavioral problems in adolescence. Data on children from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 was collected through questionnaires at ages 8 and 16 (n = 7037). Data on parental illness diagnosed during this study period was obtained from health registers. We investigated the association between parental physical illness (based on the International Classification of Diseases) and children’s behavioral problems at age 16 (measured by the Youth Self-Report questionnaire). During the study period, 3887 (55.2%) children had a parent with at least one physical illness. Associations were found between parental physical illness and children’s behavioral problems, with most associations found between maternal illness and males’ externalizing problems, and females’ internalizing problems. After adjusting for child behavioral problems at age 8, parental psychiatric illness and socioeconomic status, and multiple testing correction, only associations between parental physical illness and male behavioral problems were significant. Interestingly, parental illness was associated with lower problems. A notable proportion of children experience parental physical illnesses. Although mixed, our findings suggest that the impact of parental physical illness on children’s behavioral problems is complex, and that the experience of parental illness may lead to resilience in males. This study emphasizes that children’s needs should be taken into account when treating a parent with physical illness.

Previously Cloninger's temperament traits have been researched as a risk factor for depression mostly in cross-sectional studies. In these studies, especially high harm avoidance has been associated with an increased risk of depression. The main objective of this study was to investigate how temperament traits affect the risk of the onset of depression in a previously mentally healthy adult population.This study includes a follow-up period of 23 years from the age of 31 until 54 in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 Study. Temperament was measured at the 31-year follow-up using Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). The outcome of the study was depressive disorder diagnosis during the follow-up in both sexes. To be able to take correlations between temperament traits we also did an analysis using temperament clusters.Our sample size was 3999 individuals, out of which 240 were diagnosed with depression. For women an increase in the TCI score for novelty seeking (NS), harm avoidance (HA) or persistence (P) increased the risk of depression during the follow-up. For men only HA was a significant predictor of depression. An increase in reward dependence (RD) was found to reduce the risk of psychotic depression. In the analysis using the temperament clusters, the cluster including shy and pessimistic individuals was associated with risk for depression diagnosis in men.This prospective general population-based cohort study added to previous knowledge of high HA being a risk factor for depression, but it also found new associations such as higher P and NS.

Aims: Rates of parental separation have increased dramatically in recent decades. We evaluated the association of individuals’ childhood family structure with their somatic health over 46 years of follow-up. Methods: Data were drawn from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort, an ongoing project in which 12,058 participants born in 1966 have been followed from their 24th gestational week. Based on information supplied at age 14 years, family structure was categorised as ‘single-parent family’ and ‘two-parent family’. The anthropometric information, data from blood samples and medical history were collected from postal questionnaires and clinical examinations routinely performed at the ages of 31 and 46 years. Results: The study population comprised a total of 10,895 individuals; 85% ( n=9253) were offspring of two-parent families and 15% ( n=1642) of single-parent families. Type 2 diabetes ( P=0.032) or prediabetes ( P=0.007), psychoactive drug problems ( P

Background: While some risk factors for breast cancer have been confirmed, less is known about the role of early biological and social risk factors for breast cancer in adult life. Methods: In a prospective follow-up in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 consisting of 5,308 women, 120 breast cancers were reported via national registers by the end of 2018. Early risk factors were examined with univariate and multivariate analyses using Cox regression analysis. The main results are reported with HRs and their 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: In the multivariate-adjusted models, women whose mothers lived in urban areas (HR, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.13–2.51) during pregnancy, were low educated (HR, 2.40; 95% CI, 1.30–4.45), and had been diagnosed with breast cancer (HR, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.09–3.58) had a higher risk for breast cancer in adult life. Lower BMI at the age of 14 associated nonsignificantly with the risk of breast cancer (Mann–Whitney U test, P = 0.087). No association between birth size and breast cancer risk in adult life was found. Conclusions: Early-life residence and socioeconomic conditions may have an impact on developing breast cancer in women in adult life. All breast cancer cases of this study were relatively young, and most of them are assumed to be premenopausal. Impact: This study is one of a few prospective birth cohort studies to examine early-life socioeconomic factors and breast cancer risk in adult life. This study is limited due to small number of cases.

The prospects and predictors of returning to the labour market after long-term work disability in psychoses are unclear. Our aim was to study the proportion and characteristics of persons with schizophrenia and other psychoses who return to the labour market after receiving a disability pension. In this 50-year follow-up study in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (NFBC1966), national registers on demographics, care, and disability pensions were used to detect and characterize individuals who had been on a disability pension for psychiatric reasons. We compared individuals with schizophrenia (SZ, n = 223) or other psychoses (OP, n = 200) to those with non-psychotic psychiatric disorders (NP, n = 1815) regarding demographics and end of pension by cross-tabulations and logistic regression. Of the 170 (74%) persons with SZ who had been on disability pension for a psychiatric reason, 15 (9%) returned to the labour market. Corresponding percentages were 19% for OP and 28% for NP. In SZ, being married, a later onset age of psychosis, and better school performance, and in OP and NP, having children predicted returning to the labour market. In all groups, a shorter length of the latest disability pension associated with returning to the labour market. Although rare, it is possible to return to the labour market after a disability pension due to psychosis. Factors predicting a return to the labour market could be taken into account when planning rehabilitation.

Objective: Increasing number of people have been prescribed antipsychotics (APs) off-label in recent decades. This study aimed to identify the characteristics and predictors of receiving prescription of antipsychotics off-label. Methods: The study sample was part of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (n = 7071). Data included questionnaires and national register data. Information on prescribed medications was extracted from the national register. The sample was divided into three groups: Persons who had been prescribed APs off-label (n = 137), individuals with non-psychotic mental disorders without APs off label (n = 1478) and individuals who had been diagnosed with psychosis or bipolar disorder and who had been prescribed APs (n = 151). We compared sociodemographic, lifestyle and clinical characteristics between the off-label and the comparison groups using logistic regression. Results: The most common diagnoses in the off-label group were depression (n = 96, 70.1%) and anxiety (n = 55, 40.1%). Compared with individuals with non-psychotic mental disorders who were not prescribed APs off-label, individuals with prescribed off-label APs had a lower level of education, lower socioeconomic status, were less often married, had a higher level of somatic and psychiatric morbidity, were more often smokers and more often had a substance abuse disorder and heavy alcohol consumption. When comparing the off-label group to individuals with psychosis or bipolar disorder who used APs, there were less differences, though individuals with psychosis or bipolar disorder had more markers of morbidity and a lower level of education. Conclusions: Individuals who had been prescribed APs off label had a higher level of mental and somatic morbidity and poorer socioeconomic status than individuals with non-psychotic mental disorders who did not use APs.

Background: Several psychological symptoms in adolescence associate with later development of psychosis. However, it is unclear which symptoms specifically predict psychotic disorders rather than psychiatric disorders in general. We conducted a prospective study comparing how specific adolescent psychotic-like symptoms, predicted psychotic and non-psychotic hospital-treated psychiatric disorders in the population-based Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (NFBC1986). Methods: At age 15–16 years, 6632 members of the NFBC1986 completed the PROD-screen questionnaire. New hospital-treated mental disorders of the NFBC1986 participants were detected between age 17 and 30 years from the Finnish Care Register for Health Care. Multiple covariates were used in the analysis. Results: During the follow-up, 1.1% of the participants developed a psychotic and 3.2% a non-psychotic psychiatric disorder. Three symptoms were specifically associated with onset of psychosis compared to non-psychotic psychiatric disorders: ‘Difficulty in controlling one’s speech, behaviour or facial expression while communicating’ (adjusted OR 4.00; 95% CI 1.66–9.92), ‘Difficulties in understanding written text or heard speech’ (OR 2.25; 1.12–4.51), and ‘Difficulty or uncertainty in making contact with other people’ (OR 2.20; 1.03–4.67). Of these, the first one remained statistically significant after Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first general-population-based prospective study exploring psychiatric symptoms predicting the onset of hospital-treated first-episode psychosis in comparison to non-psychotic disorders. We found three symptoms related with difficulties in social interaction which predicted onset of psychosis. This is a novel finding and should be replicated.

Climate warming in Arctic Canada, e.g., permafrost thaw, comprehensively impacts biota and the environment, which then affects the lives of people. This study aimed to investigate which perceived environmental and adaptation factors relate to self-rated well-being, quality of life, satisfaction with life (sum variable = life balance), self-rated health, and feeling of empowerment to face the changes related to permafrost thaw. The study sample was collected from one community using a questionnaire (n = 53) and analyzed by cross-tabulation. Results indicated that most participants had at least good well-being, quality of life, satisfaction with life, and a medium level of health, and over 40% assessed being empowered to face the changes related to permafrost thaw. Problems and challenges associated with permafrost thaw, e.g., health, traditional lifeways, and infrastructure, were recognized; these had impacts on life balance, feeling of empowerment, and self-rated health. Traditional knowledge regarding adaptation to face changes was seen as important. More adaptation actions from the individual to global level seemed to be needed. This study provides an overview of the situation in one area, but more research, with a larger study sample, should be conducted to achieve a deeper understanding of climate-related impacts on life and holistic well-being.

Objective The use of combined hormonal contraceptives (CHCs) worsens glucose tolerance, but the risk for glucose metabolism disorders remains controversial. Design The study is a prospective longitudinal population-based cohort study. Methods The study was based on a cohort population that comprised 1879 women born in 1966. At age 46, the women answered a questionnaire on contraceptive use and underwent an oral glucose tolerance test. Glucose metabolism indices were evaluated in current CHC (n = 153), progestin-only contraceptive (POC, n = 842), and non-hormonal contraceptive users (n = 884). Results In the entire study population, current CHC use was significantly associated with prediabetes (OR: 2.0, 95% CI: 1.3–3.2) and type 2 diabetes (OR: 3.3, 95% CI: 1.1–9.7) compared to non-hormonal contraceptive use. After 5 years of use, the prediabetes risk increased 2.2-fold (95% CI: 1.3–3.7) and type 2 diabetes risk increased 4.5-fold (95% CI: 1.5–13.5). Compared with the current POC use, current CHC use was significantly associated with prediabetes (OR: 1.9, 95% CI: 1.2–3.0). Current POC use was not associated with any glucose metabolism disorders. The results prevailed after adjusting for BMI and socioeconomic status. Conclusions CHC use in perimenopausal women was associated with a significantly increased risk of glucose metabolism disorders. This association should be considered in women with increased metabolic risk.

Psychoses are associated with poor labour market attachment, but few studies have compared schizophrenia (SZ) and other psychoses (OP). Moreover, studies on long-term employment trajectories over individuals' working life courses are lacking. We compared 30 year employment trajectory patterns in a general population sample among individuals with SZ, OP, and those with no psychosis (NP).Utilising the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966, we collected survey data on employment from ages 16 to 45 and detected individuals with register-based history of SZ (n = 62), OP (n = 87), or NP (n = 6464) until age 46. Through gender-specific latent class analyses on annual employment roles, we identified traditional, highly educated, self-employed, delayed and floundering employment trajectories with distinct socioeconomic characteristics. We addressed attrition by conducting weighted analyses.Floundering trajectories were common among individuals with SZ (79% of men, 73% of women) and OP (52% of men, 51% of women). In NP, a traditional employee trajectory was most common in men (31%), and a highly educated trajectory in women (28%). A history of psychosis was associated with heightened odds ratios (ORs; 95% confidence intervals (CIs)) for floundering trajectories in both men (SZ: 32.9 (13.3-81.4); OP: 7.4 (4.0-13.9)) and women (SZ: 9.9 (4.6-21.5); OP: 3.9 (2.1-7.1)) compared to NP. Weighted analyses produced similar results.Most individuals with SZ or OP have floundering employee trajectories reflecting an elevated risk of unemployment and part-time work until midlife. These results indicate the importance of improving labour market attachment during the early phases of psychoses.

The prospects and predictors of returning to the labour market after long-term work disability in psychoses are unclear. Our aim was to study the proportion and characteristics of persons with schizophrenia and other psychoses who return to the labour market after receiving a disability pension.In this 50-year follow-up study in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (NFBC1966), national registers on demographics, care, and disability pensions were used to detect and characterize individuals who had been on a disability pension for psychiatric reasons. We compared individuals with schizophrenia (SZ, n = 223) or other psychoses (OP, n = 200) to those with non-psychotic psychiatric disorders (NP, n = 1815) regarding demographics and end of pension by cross-tabulations and logistic regression.Of the 170 (74%) persons with SZ who had been on disability pension for a psychiatric reason, 15 (9%) returned to the labour market. Corresponding percentages were 19% for OP and 28% for NP. In SZ, being married, a later onset age of psychosis, and better school performance, and in OP and NP, having children predicted returning to the labour market. In all groups, a shorter length of the latest disability pension associated with returning to the labour market.Although rare, it is possible to return to the labour market after a disability pension due to psychosis. Factors predicting a return to the labour market could be taken into account when planning rehabilitation.

Parental death before adulthood has been shown to increase offspring's risk of poor health and adverse social consequences. In a sample of 422 subjects with parental death (334 (79.1%) due to natural causes), and 6172 matched controls, those with parental death were given a diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder up to 28 years of age earlier than their controls (10-year survival proportions: 88.6% vs. 93.1%, p = 0.001). Our findings indicate that psychosocial support must be provided as early as when a parent falls ill, especially with those illnesses that are the most common causes of death in the population.

Background and purpose In the group of severe mental disorders, psychotic depression (PD) is essentially under-researched. Knowledge about the risk factors is scarce and this applies especially to early risk factors. Our aim was to study early childhood and adolescent risk factors of PD in a representative birth cohort sample with a follow-up of up to 50 years. Methods The study was carried out using the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (NFBC 1966). We used non-psychotic depression (NPD) (n = 746), schizophrenia (SZ) (n = 195), psychotic bipolar disorder (PBD) (n = 27), other psychoses (PNOS) (n = 136) and healthy controls (HC) (n = 8200) as comparison groups for PD (n = 58). We analysed several potential early risk factors from time of birth until the age of 16 years. Results The main finding was that parents’ psychiatric illness [HR 3.59 (1.84–7.04)] was a risk factor and a high sports grade in school was a protective factor [HR 0.29 (0.11–0.73)] for PD also after adjusting for covariates in the multivariate Cox regression model. Parental psychotic illness was an especially strong risk factor for PD. The PD subjects had a parent with psychiatric illness significantly more often (p Conclusions A low sports grade in school may be a risk factor for PD. Psychiatric illnesses, especially psychoses, are common in the parents of PD subjects. A surprisingly low number of statistically significant risk factors may have resulted from the size of the PD sample and the underlying heterogeneity of the etiology of PD.

BackgroundLow IQ is a risk factor for psychosis, but the effect of high IQ is more controversial. The aim was to explore the association of childhood school success with prodromal symptoms in adolescence and psychoses in adulthood.MethodsIn the general population-based Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (n= 8 229), we studied the relationship between teacher-assessed learning deficits, special talents and general school success at age 8 years and both prodromal symptoms (PROD-screen) at age 15–16 years and the occurrence of psychoses by age 30 years.ResultsMore prodromal symptoms were experienced by those talented in oral presentation [boys: adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.49; 95% confidence interval 1.14–1.96; girls: 1.23; 1.00–1.52] or drawing (boys: 1.44; 1.10–1.87). Conversely, being talented in athletics decreased the probability of psychotic-like symptoms (boys: OR 0.72; 0.58–0.90). School success below average predicted less prodromal symptoms with boys (OR 0.68; 0.48–0.97), whereas above-average success predicted more prodromal symptoms with girls (OR 1.22; 1.03–1.44). The occurrence of psychoses was not affected. Learning deficits did not associate with prodromal symptoms or psychoses.ConclusionsLearning deficits in childhood did not increase the risk of prodromal symptoms in adolescence or later psychosis in this large birth cohort. Learning deficits are not always associated with increased risk of psychosis, which might be due to, e.g. special support given in schools. The higher prevalence of prodromal symptoms in talented children may reflect a different kind of relationship of school success with prodromal symptoms compared to full psychoses.

We investigated the association of family history of mental disorders, especially psychosis, with occupational and clinical outcome in psychotic disorders in a longitudinal population-based cohort. The Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (n = 9432) was used to gather the data. In total 189 individuals with psychosis were identified by age of 28. The outcome was assessed by using register information regarding occupational activity, disability pension and hospital treatments due to psychiatric cause. Parental psychosis and any psychiatric disorder were used as predictors of outcome. The results showed that presence of any parental psychiatric disorder was associated with higher number of days spent at hospital and higher number of hospitalizations in psychotic disorders, but was not associated with occupational outcome or disability pension. The presence of parental psychosis was not associated with outcome. These findings suggest that the presence of any psychiatric disorder among parents may increase the risk of poorer outcome in psychoses in terms of need of hospitalisations. Based on this study the presence of parental psychosis is not associated with outcome, but the result should be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size and conflict with the results of earlier studies.

Background:Psychotic depression (PD) is heavily understudied despite high mortality and the severe course of illness. A majority of the studies conducted so far are also largely based on selected clinical samples. The aim of this study was to examine the clinical characteristics of PD in a representative prospective birth cohort sample.Methods:The Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 is a well-known prospective population-based cohort including 12 058 people followed since mid-pregnancy. We identified 55 individuals with PD, analysed their characteristics and compared them with schizophrenia (SZ), non-psychotic depression (NPD), psychotic bipolar disorder (PBD) and other psychoses (PNOS).Results:The life-time prevalence of stable (no conversion to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or schizoaffective disorder) PD was 0.5%. PD subjects were older than SZ and PNOS subjects during the first psychotic episode and compared to SZ, more often female. PD required hospitalization and transition to disability pension more often than NPD, but less often than SZ. Comorbid alcohol abuse disorder (44%) and personality disorder (40%) were highly common in PD. PNOS had a similar occupational outcome than PD but hospitalization rate was lower in the PNOS group. PBD and PD had mostly comparable outcomes.Conclusions:Our findings in a naturalistic cohort support the notion that the course of illness in PD is mostly similar to that of PBD, it is less severe than in schizophrenia, but worse than in non-psychotic depression. PD seems to have high psychiatric comorbidity.

AIM The aim of this study was to investigate whether parental somatic illnesses during childhood increase the risk for later psychosis in the offspring. In addition, we examined which parental illnesses in particular are associated with increased risk of psychosis in the offspring. METHOD The data of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (NFBC 1986), included 9137 children born alive in northern Finland between the July 1, 1985, and the June 30, 1986. Information regarding the parents' somatic morbidity was collected through various healthcare registers up to age 28 of the cohort members. RESULTS Psychosis was diagnosed in 169 (1.8%) of the cohort members between the ages of 16 and 28. Accumulation of parental somatic diseases was related to later psychosis in the offspring. In addition, some specific somatic diagnostic groups of parents were emphasized in relation to psychosis in the offspring. CONCLUSIONS Our study findings indicated that parental somatic illness should be taken into account in the prevention of serious mental health problems in their offspring.

Early stressors play a key role in shaping interindividual differences in vulnerability to various psychopathologies, which according to the diathesis-stress model might relate to the elevated glucocorticoid secretion and impaired responsiveness to stress. Furthermore, previous studies have shown that individuals exposed to early adversity have deficits in emotion processing from faces. This study aims to explore whether early adversities associate with brain response to faces and whether this association might associate with the regional variations in mRNA expression of the glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1). A total of 104 individuals drawn from the Northern Finland Brith Cohort 1986 participated in a face-task functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study. A large independent dataset (IMAGEN, N = 1739) was utilized for reducing fMRI data-analytical space in the NFBC 1986 dataset. Early adversities were associated with deviant brain response to fearful faces (MANCOVA, P = 0.006) and with weaker performance in fearful facial expression recognition (P = 0.01). Glucocorticoid receptor gene expression (data from the Allen Human Brain Atlas) correlated with the degree of associations between early adversities and brain response to fearful faces (R2 = 0.25, P = 0.01) across different brain regions. Our results suggest that early adversities contribute to brain response to faces and that this association is mediated in part by the glucocorticoid system. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4470-4478, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A number of structural properties of white matter can be assessed in vivo using multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We measured profiles of R1 and R2 relaxation rates, myelin water fraction (MWF) and diffusion tensor measures (fractional anisotropy [FA], mean diffusivity [MD]) across the mid-sagittal section of the corpus callosum in two samples of young individuals. In Part 1, we compared histology-derived axon diameter (Aboitiz et al., 1992) to MRI measures obtained in 402 young men (19.55 ± 0.84 years) recruited from the Avon Longitudinal Study on Parents and Children. In Part 2, we examined sex differences in FA, MD and magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) across the corpus callosum in 433 young (26.50 ± 0.51 years) men and women recruited from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986. We found that R1, R2, and MWF follow the anterior-to-posterior profile of small-axon density. Sex differences in mean MTR were similar across the corpus callosum (males > females) while these in FA differed by the callosal segment (Body: M>F; Splenium: F>M). We suggest that the values of R1, R2 and MWF are driven by high surface area of myelin in regions with high density of “small axons”.

The Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 is a large population-based birth cohort, which aims to promote health and wellbeing of the population. In this paper, we systematically review the psychiatric research performed in the cohort until today, i.e. at the age of 32 years of the cohort (2018). We conducted a systematic literature search using the databases of PubMed and Scopus and complemented it with a manual search. We found a total of 94 articles, which were classified as examining ADHD, emotional and behavioural problems, psychosis risk or other studies relating to psychiatric subjects. The articles are mainly based on two large comprehensive follow-up studies of the cohort and several substudies. The studies have often used also nationwide register data. The studies have found several early predictors for the aforementioned psychiatric outcomes, such as problems at pregnancy and birth, family factors in childhood, physical inactivity and substance use in adolescence. There are also novel findings relating to brain imaging and cognition, for instance regarding familial risk of psychosis in relation to resting state functional MRI. The Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 has been utilised frequently in psychiatric research and future data collections are likely to lead to new scientifically important findings. Abbreviations: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

There is limited knowledge available on the association of vitamin D with psychiatric disorders in young adults. We aimed to investigate vitamin D levels and associating factors in schizophrenia, other psychoses and non-psychotic depression. We studied 4,987 participants from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (31 years) with available serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] measurements. The final sample was divided into four groups: schizophrenia (n = 40), other psychoses (n = 24), non-psychotic depression (n = 264) and control (n = 4659). To account for the influence of environmental and technical covariates, we generated a vitamin D score variable with correction for season, sex, batch effect and latitude. We further examined how vitamin D levels correlate with anthropometric, lifestyle, socioeconomic and psychiatric measures. Neither serum 25(OH)D concentration nor vitamin D score differed between schizophrenia, other psychoses, non-psychotic depression and control group. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was 3.2%, insufficiency 25.5%, and sufficiency 71.3%. Low vitamin D score correlated with regular smoking in the group with schizophrenia. No difference was observed in other psychiatric conditions. We did not find any difference in vitamin D status between schizophrenia, psychoses, non-psychotic depression and control groups, but future studies are warranted to elucidate the role of vitamin D in psychiatric conditions.

Climate change is a global challenge which has direct and indirect health impacts on the lives of people and communities in the Arctic. The aim of our study was to evaluate the perception of permafrost thaw and health challenges and to determine which perceived environmental and adaptation factors relate to self-rated health and, more specifically, to feeling of empowerment when facing the changes and impacts of climate change and permafrost thawing. Questionnaire data (n= 100) were collected from one community located in Greenland, Disko Bay. Data were analyzed by cross-tabulation and the significances were tested either by Pearson’s χ2test, Fisher’s exact test or by the t-test, when applicable. Based on these analyses, logistic and linear regression analyses were used to evaluate the associations between demographic variables, challenges posed by permafrost thaw and self-rated health, and associations between feeling of empowerment and perceived environmental/adaptation factors. The results indicated that climate change was not assessed as being a direct risk for the health of local people or their feeling of empowerment. Nature seemed to play an important role for local people, and not being in the natural environment for recreational activities seemed to decrease feeling of empowerment (OR 0.42,p= 0.042, 95% CI 0.17–0.97). This paper provides new, multidisciplinary research information about the perception of health challenges, health, and feeling of empowerment among people living in an environment impacted by permafrost thaw and climate change.&nbsp

The aim of this study was to explore the relation between Problematic Gaming Behaviour (PGB) and specific psychological factors (gaming motives, self-awareness of problematic gaming behaviour) and structural factors (game genres) among Finnish adolescents and young adults. A national survey of 271 respondents, aged 13 to 24, participated in the study. The study sample was randomly selected from the Population Register Center. Multiple regression analysis was used as a means of examining links between game genres, gaming motives and PGB. In addition, pairwise comparisons of a non-problematic gaming behavior group and a problematic gaming behavior group were used as a means of examining differences across game genre use and self-awareness of PGB. PGB was particularly associated with the use of a group of games encompassing role-playing, progression (e.g., character development), action and strategy features. The findings indicated that entertainment-achievement, social and escapism motives were associated with PGB. On the whole, this study emphasized that specific game genres and playing motives are involved in problematic use of digital game playing.

Antipsychotic medications and psychotic illness related factors may affect both weight and brain structure in people with psychosis. Genetically high-risk individuals offer an opportunity to study the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and brain structure free from these potential confounds. We examined the effect of BMI on white matter (WM) microstructure in subjects with familial risk for psychosis (FR). We used diffusion tensor imaging and tract-based spatial statistics to explore the effect of BMI on whole brain FA in 42 (13 males) participants with FR and 46 (16 males) control participants aged 20-25 years drawn from general population-based Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986. We also measured axial, radial and mean diffusivities. Most of the participants were normal weight rather than obese. In the FR group, decrease in fractional anisotropy and increase in radial diffusivity were associated with an increase in BMI in several brain areas. In controls the opposite pattern was seen in participants with higher BMI. There was a statistically significant interaction between group and BMI on FA and radial and mean diffusivities. Our results suggest that the effect of BMI on WM differs between individuals with FR for psychosis and controls.

Background A number of psychological symptoms have been found to predict psychosis. Many studies have found no specificity to separate symptoms predicting non-psychotic psychiatric disorders from those predicting psychotic disorders. Prodromal symptoms are non-specific problems often preceding frank psychosis. Previously prodromal symptoms have been studied mainly retrospectively or in high-risk clinical populations. We were able to conduct prospective study comparing adolescent symptoms predicting non-psychotic psychiatric disorders and psychotic psychiatric disorders. Methods Members of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 were asked to fill in PROD-screen questionnaire at age 15–16 years. PROD-screen includes 21 items both measuring positive prodromal symptoms, negative prodromal symptoms and general symptoms. We were able to follow 5,368 participants using Finnish Hospital Discharge Register detecting new hospital treated mental disorders till 30 years. Results Subjects who developed psychosis had significantly more commonly positive and negative symptoms than subjects without psychiatric disorder or subjects who developed non-psychotic disorder. When comparing separate symptoms in those having psychiatric hospital treatments, we found three positive symptoms and three negative symptoms predicting specifically psychotic disorders. After adjusting for confounders, the symptoms predicting psychosis were: Difficulty in controlling one’s speech, behavior or facial expression while communicating, Difficulties in understanding written text or speech heard, Feelings, thoughts or behaviors that could be considered weird or peculiar. Three of the negative symptoms also predicted psychosis: Difficulty or uncertainty in making contact with other people, Lack of initiative or difficulty in completing tasks, Difficulties in carrying out ordinary routine activities (at least one week). Discussion In this large prospective population sample both positive and negative symptoms in adolescence associated specifically with development of first episode psychosis compared to hospital treated non-psychotic disorders. This finding is in line with the other prospective general population follow-up studies. The main contribution of our study to the literature is that we had the possibility to compare the subjects who developed clinically real hospital-treated psychosis not only to healthy comparison subjects but also to subjects who developed non-psychotic psychiatric disorder.

Background People with psychotic disorders typically have the poorest rate of employment compared to other mental disorders. However, the chances of returning back to labour market and work after long-term work disability is unclear. Aim of this study was to study proportion of persons who can return to labour market after they have received disability pension. We also aim to study potential predictors for return to work. Methods The study was based on the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (NFBC1966) (N=12 058) which is an unselected, general population-based sample. NFBC1966 offers us a unique way to examine return to labour market and its predictors in general population sample with true prospectively collected data with 50-years follow-up. Different national registers were utilized in the study (information about psychiatric diagnoses and occupational outcomes). Occupational outcomes until end of the 2016 were measured by information about disability pension, disability benefits and employment contracts. The sample included 232 schizophrenia patients, 208 persons with other psychosis and 1927 persons with non-psychotic psychiatric disorder diagnosed until the end of 2016. There is also large amount of predictor data (for occupational outcomes) collected since birth until recent years. Results Of the 141 (61%) persons with schizophrenia who had been on disability pension due to psychiatric reason, disability pensions of 16 (11%) persons had ended due to return to labour market. Of the 74 (32%) persons in the other psychosis subgroup and 180 (9%) in the non-psychotic psychiatric disorder subgroup who had been on disability pension due to psychiatric reason, corresponding numbers of pension’s ending due to return to labour market were 18 (24%) and 56 (31%), respectively. Disability pensions of 14 (10%) persons in schizophrenia group, 3 (4%) persons in other psychosis subgroup and 4 (2%) persons in non-psychotic psychiatric disorder subgroup had ended due to death. Disability pensions of 111 (79%) persons in schizophrenia group, 53 (72%) persons in other psychosis subgroup and 120 (67%) persons in non-psychotic psychiatric disorder subgroup were still running. Later, also sociodemographic information, psychiatric and somatic comorbidity and age at the onset of disease as predictors for the good occupational outcome (i.e. return to work) will be analysed and presented. Discussion Our results indicate that having schizophrenia diagnosis often means relatively poor occupational outcome compared to other psychiatric disorders and ending up on disability pension. Besides of that some people with psychosis manage to maintain their working ability, some people also manage to return to labour market after being on disability pension. Finding the predictors for returning back to labour force in long-time follow-up can help us to cut off the long-term disability periods and support people back to work in the future.