Prospective studies on the mental health of university students highlighted a major concern. Specifically, young adults in academia are affected by markedly worse mental health status than their peers or adults in other vocations. This situation predisposes to exacerbated disability-adjusted life-years.

We enroled 1,388 students at the baseline, 557 of whom completed follow-up after 6 months, incorporating their demographic information and self-report questionnaires on depressive, anxiety and obsessive–compulsive symptoms. We applied multiple regression modelling to determine associations – at baseline – between demographic factors and self-reported mental health measures and supervised machine learning algorithms to predict the risk of poorer mental health at follow-up, by leveraging the demographic and clinical information collected at baseline.

Approximately one out of five students reported severe depressive symptoms and/or suicidal ideation. An association of economic worry with depression was evidenced both at baseline (when high-frequency worry odds ratio = 3.11 [1.88–5.15]) and during follow-up. The random forest algorithm exhibited high accuracy in predicting the students who maintained well-being (balanced accuracy = 0.85) or absence of suicidal ideation but low accuracy for those whose symptoms worsened (balanced accuracy = 0.49). The most important features used for prediction were the cognitive and somatic symptoms of depression. However, while the negative predictive value of worsened symptoms after 6 months of enrolment was 0.89, the positive predictive value is basically null.

Students’ severe mental health problems reached worrying levels, and demographic factors were poor predictors of mental health outcomes. Further research including people with lived experience will be crucial to better assess students’ mental health needs and improve the predictive outcome for those most at risk of worsening symptoms.

We aimed to investigate child mortality, perinatal morbidities and congenital anomalies born by women with substance misuse during or before pregnancy (DP or BP).

Taiwan Birth Registration from 2004 to 2014 linking Integrated Illicit Drug Databases used to include substance misuse participates. Children born by mothers convicted of substance misuse DP or BP were the substance-exposed cohort. Two substance-unexposed comparison cohorts were established: one comparison cohort selected newborns from the rest of the population on a ratio of 1:1 and exact matched by the child’s gender, child’s birth year, mother’s birth year and child’s first use of the health insurance card; another comparison cohort matched newborns from exposed and unexposed mothers by their propensity scores calculated from logistic regression.

The exposure group included 1776 DP, 1776 BP and 3552 unexposed individuals in exact-matched cohorts. A fourfold increased risk of deaths in children born by mothers exposed to substance during pregnancy was found compared to unexposed group (hazard ratio [HR] = 4.54, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.07–9.97]. Further multivariate Cox regression models with adjustments and propensity matching substantially attenuated HRs on mortality in the substance-exposed cohort (aHR = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.10–2.39). Raised risks of perinatal morbidities and congenital anomalies were also found.

Increased risks of child mortality, perinatal morbidities or congenital anomalies were found in women with substance use during pregnancy. From estimates before and after adjustments, our results showed that having outpatient visits or medical utilizations during pregnancy were associated with substantially attenuated HRs on mortality in the substance-exposed cohort. Therefore, the excess mortality risk might be partially explained by the lack of relevant antenatal clinical care. Our finding may suggest that the importance of early identification, specific abstinence program and access to appropriate antenatal care might be helpful in reducing newborn mortality. Adequate prevention policies may be formulated.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people (LGBTQ) are at increased risk of traumatization. This systematic review aimed to summarize data regarding the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for LGBTQ people and their subgroups.

Medline, Scopus, PsycINFO and EMBASE were searched until September 2022. Studies reporting a comparative estimation of PTSD among LGBTQ population and the general population (i.e., heterosexual/cisgender), without restrictions on participants’ age and setting for the enrolment, were identified. Meta-analyses were based on odds ratio (OR and 95% confidence intervals [CI]), estimated through inverse variance models with random effects.

The review process led to the selection of 27 studies, involving a total of 31,903 LGBTQ people and 273,842 controls, which were included in the quantitative synthesis. Overall, LGBTQ people showed an increased risk of PTSD (OR: 2.20 [95% CI: 1.85; 2.60]), although there was evidence of marked heterogeneity in the estimate (I2 = 91%). Among LGBTQ subgroups, transgender people showed the highest risk of PTSD (OR: 2.52 [95% CI: 2.22; 2.87]) followed by bisexual people (OR: 2.44 [95% CI: 1.05; 5.66]), although these comparisons are limited by the lack of data for other sexual and gender minorities, such as intersex people. Interestingly, the risk of PTSD for bisexual people was confirmed also considering lesbian and gay as control group (OR: 1.44 [95% CI: 1.07; 1.93]). The quality of the evidence was low.

LGBTQ people are at higher risk of PTSD compared with their cisgender/heterosexual peers. This evidence may contribute to the public awareness on LGBTQ mental health needs and suggest supportive strategies as well as preventive interventions (e.g., supportive programs, counselling, and destigmatizing efforts) as parts of a tailored health-care planning aimed to reduce psychiatric morbidity in this at-risk population.

Although childhood maltreatment has been widely supported to be a robust predictor of suicide behaviours, the effects of different childhood maltreatment subtypes remain controversial and inconclusive. Moreover, whether the effects differ by sex in urban and rural adolescents is still unknown. This study aimed to quantify the associations between five subtypes of childhood maltreatment and different suicide behaviour involvement.

A multistage cluster sampling method was adopted from April to December 2021 for adolescents aged 12 to 18 across five representative provinces of China. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form was used to measure childhood maltreatment subtypes. Suicide behaviour involvement was classified as none group, suicide ideator, suicide planner and suicide attempter. Confounding variables include demographic characteristics, smoking, drinking alcohol, depression and anxiety.

Among a total of 18,980 adolescents, 2021 (10.6%) were suicide ideator, 1595 (8.4%) were suicide planner and 1014 (5.3%) were suicide attempter. Rural females had the highest proportion of suicide ideator (13.8%) and suicide planner (11.5%). Multinomial logistic regression analysis indicated that five childhood maltreatment subtypes were independently associated with suicide behaviours, except for associations between sexual abuse and suicide ideator as well as suicide planner (p > 0.05). Moreover, these associations differ by sex and residence. After adjusted for interactions of different subtypes, structural equation model indicated that the direct effects of childhood maltreatment subtypes on suicide behaviours from high to low were emotional abuse (β = 0.363, p < 0.001), physical abuse (β = 0.100, p < 0.001) and sexual abuse (β = 0.033, p = 0.003), while the effects of physical neglect and emotional neglect were not significant (p > 0.05).

Five subtypes of childhood maltreatment have specific and non-equivalence associations with suicide behaviours. Emotional abuse may have the strongest effect, and sexual abuse have an acute effect on suicide behaviours. Suicide prevention programs for Chinese adolescents could focus on those who experienced emotional, physical and sexual abuse. Furthermore, strategies should be tailored by sex and residence, and rural females deserve more attention.

Preventing the occurrence of depression/anxiety and suicide during adolescence can lead to substantive health gains over the course of an individual person’s life. This study set out to identify the expected population-level costs and health impacts of implementing universal and indicated school-based socio-emotional learning (SEL) programs in different country contexts.

A Markov model was developed to examine the effectiveness of delivering universal and indicated school-based SEL programs to prevent the onset of depression/anxiety and suicide deaths among adolescents. Intervention health impacts were measured in healthy life years gained (HLYGs) over a 100-year time horizon. Country-specific intervention costs were calculated and denominated in 2017 international dollars (2017 I$) under a health systems perspective. Cost-effectiveness findings were subsequently expressed in terms of I$ per HLYG. Analyses were conducted on a group of 20 countries from different regions and income levels, with final results aggregated and presented by country income group – that is, low and lower middle income countries (LLMICs) and upper middle and high-income countries (UMHICs). Uncertainty and sensitivity analyses were conducted to test model assumptions.

Implementation costs ranged from an annual per capita investment of I$0.10 in LLMICs to I$0.16 in UMHICs for the universal SEL program and I$0.06 in LLMICs to I$0.09 in UMHICs for the indicated SEL program. The universal SEL program generated 100 HLYGs per 1 million population compared to 5 for the indicated SEL program in LLMICs. The cost per HLYG was I$958 in LLMICS and I$2,006 in UMHICs for the universal SEL program and I$11,123 in LLMICs and I$18,473 in UMHICs for the indicated SEL program. Cost-effectiveness findings were highly sensitive to variations around input parameter values involving the intervention effect sizes and the disability weight used to estimate HLYGs.

The results of this analysis suggest that universal and indicated SEL programs require a low level of investment (in the range of I$0.05 to I$0.20 per head of population) but that universal SEL programs produce significantly greater health benefits at a population level and therefore better value for money (e.g., less than I$1,000 per HLYG in LLMICs). Despite producing fewer population-level health benefits, the implementation of indicated SEL programs may be justified as a means of reducing population inequalities that affect high-risk populations who would benefit from a more tailored intervention approach.

This study aimed to summarize the evidence on sleep alterations in medication-naïve children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

We systematically searched PubMed/Medline, Embase and Web of Science databases from inception through March 22, 2021. This study was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021243881). Any observational study was included that enrolled medication-naïve children and adolescents with ASD and compared objective (actigraphy and polysomnography) or subjective sleep parameters with typically developing (TD) counterparts. We extracted relevant data such as the study design and outcome measures. The methodological quality was assessed through the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). A meta-analysis was carried out using the random-effects model by pooling effect sizes as Hedges’ g. To assess publication bias, Egger’s test and p-curve analysis were done. A priori planned meta-regression and subgroup analysis were also performed to identify potential moderators.

Out of 4277 retrieved references, 16 studies were eligible with 981 ASD patients and 1220 TD individuals. The analysis of objective measures showed that medication-naïve ASD patients had significantly longer sleep latency (Hedges’ g 0.59; 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.26 to 0.92), reduced sleep efficiency (Hedges’ g −0.58; 95% CI −0.87 to −0.28), time in bed (Hedges’ g −0.64; 95% CI −1.02 to −0.26) and total sleep time (Hedges’ g −0.64; 95% CI −1.01 to −0.27). The analysis of subjective measures showed that they had more problems in daytime sleepiness (Hedges’ g 0.48; 95% CI 0.26 to 0.71), sleep latency (Hedges’ g 1.15; 95% CI 0.72 to 1.58), initiating and maintaining sleep (Hedges’ g 0.86; 95% CI 0.39 to 1.33) and sleep hyperhidrosis (Hedges’ g 0.48; 95% CI 0.29 to 0.66). Potential publication bias was detected for sleep latency, sleep period time and total sleep time measured by polysomnography. Some sleep alterations were moderated by age, sex and concurrent intellectual disability. The median NOS score was 8 (interquartile range 7.25–8.75).

We found that medication-naïve children and adolescents with ASD presented significantly more subjective and objective sleep alterations compared to TD and identified possible moderators of these differences. Future research requires an analysis of how these sleep alterations are linked to core symptom severity and comorbid behavioural problems, which would provide an integrated therapeutic intervention for ASD. However, our results should be interpreted in light of the potential publication bias.

Help-seeking for mental health problems is facilitated and hindered by several factors at the individual, interpersonal and community level. The most frequently researched factors contributing to differences in help-seeking behaviour are based on classical socio-demographic variables, such as age, gender and education, but explanations for the observed differences are often absent or remain vague. The present study complements traditional approaches in help-seeking research by introducing a milieu approach, focusing on values and political attitudes as a possible explanation for differences in help-seeking for emotional mental health problems.

A representative cross-sectional survey of N = 3,042 respondents in Germany was conducted through face-to-face interviews about past help-seeking for mental health problems, socio-demographic characteristics and values and political attitudes

Multivariate logistic regression analyses indicated that belonging to a cosmopolitan intellectual milieu group was significantly associated with an increased likelihood of past help-seeking for mental health issues (psychotherapeutic/psychological help-seeking [OR = 2.09, 95% CI: 1.11–3.93, p < 0.05) and primary care (OR = 2.21, 95% CI: 1.15–4.24, p < 0.05]), whereas members of individualist and conservative milieu groups were less likely to report having sought help from a psychotherapist, but not from a general practitioner. Increased odds ratios were also found for a number of socio-demographic variables, such as being aged 26 years and over, a female gender and more than 12 years of formal education. Associations between socio-demographic variables remained significant, and the explained variance of the used models improved considerably when milieu variables were added.

We discuss how milieu-specific patterns were relevant for explaining differences in mental health service use in addition to socio-demographic factors. It seems promising to consider help-seeking from a milieu perspective to improve disparities in access to and the use of psychotherapy as well as to resource allocation.

To investigate the occurrence of traumatic stress symptoms (TSS) among healthcare workers active during the COVID-19 pandemic and to obtain insight as to which pandemic-related stressful experiences are associated with onset and persistence of traumatic stress.

This is a multicenter prospective cohort study. Spanish healthcare workers (N = 4,809) participated at an initial assessment (i.e., just after the first wave of the Spain COVID-19 pandemic) and at a 4-month follow-up assessment using web-based surveys. Logistic regression investigated associations of 19 pandemic-related stressful experiences across four domains (infection-related, work-related, health-related and financial) with TSS prevalence, incidence and persistence, including simulations of population attributable risk proportions (PARP).

Thirty-day TSS prevalence at T1 was 22.1%. Four-month incidence and persistence were 11.6% and 54.2%, respectively. Auxiliary nurses had highest rates of TSS prevalence (35.1%) and incidence (16.1%). All 19 pandemic-related stressful experiences under study were associated with TSS prevalence or incidence, especially experiences from the domains of health-related (PARP range 88.4–95.6%) and work-related stressful experiences (PARP range 76.8–86.5%). Nine stressful experiences were also associated with TSS persistence, of which having patient(s) in care who died from COVID-19 had the strongest association. This association remained significant after adjusting for co-occurring depression and anxiety.

TSSs among Spanish healthcare workers active during the COVID-19 pandemic are common and associated with various pandemic-related stressful experiences. Future research should investigate if these stressful experiences represent truly traumatic experiences and carry risk for the development of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Socio-cultural integration of refugees has received scant attention in the academic literature. Türkiye hosts the largest number of refugees, including Afghans, as the second largest asylum-seeking group in Türkiye. There is a dearth of research into the mental health and integration of Afghan refugees in Türkiye. The aim of the present study was to investigate socio-cultural integration outcomes among Afghan refugees in Türkiye by considering the role of traumatic events and post-displacement stressors. The role of mental health in integration outcomes was further examined.

A cross-sectional, web-based survey study with 785 Afghan refugees in Türkiye was conducted between April and June 2021. Data were collected on socio-demographic characteristics, potentially traumatic events (PTEs) (Harvard Trauma Questionnaire), post-displacement stressors (Post-Migration Living Difficulties Checklist), mental health symptoms (Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25), social integration- social bonds (contact with co-ethnic group members) and social bridges (contact with the host community)- and cultural integration (Vancouver Index of Acculturation). Structural equation modelling was conducted to test the hypothesized relationship between conflict and displacement-related stressors, mental health and socio-cultural integration.

Findings showed that conflict-related traumatic events and post-displacement stressors significantly predicted higher mental health symptoms. Experiencing traumatic events significantly predicted higher levels of social bridges, adopting destination culture and lower level of maintaining heritage culture. Mental health problems predicted the relationship between stressors related to forced displacement and integration outcomes-social bridges and adopting destination culture. These findings highlight the role of mental health as an indispensable resource for socio-cultural integration. Further, conflict and displacement-related stressors are important determinants of socio-cultural integration among Afghan refugees in Türkiye.

Exposure to PTEs and post-displacement stressors were significant risk factors for the mental health and socio-cultural integration of Afghan refugees in Türkiye. These stressful experiences deteriorate refugees’ mental health, which hinders their integration into the host society.

Previous cross-sectional and case–control studies have proposed that decreased vitamin D levels are positively correlated with the risk of suicidality in adults. However, limited studies have examined the association between vitamin D and suicidality in adolescents. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between serum vitamin D and suicidality risk among early adolescents.

Data were obtained from a Chinese early adolescent cohort. In this cohort, seventh-grade students from a middle school in Anhui Province were invited to voluntarily participate in the baseline assessments and provide peripheral blood samples (in September 2019). The participants were followed up annually (in September 2020 and September 2021). Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and vitamin D–related single-nucleotide polymorphisms at baseline were measured in November 2021. Traditional observational and Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were performed to examine the relationship between serum 25(OH)D at baseline and the risk of baseline and incident suicidality (i.e., suicidal ideation [SI], plans and attempts).

Traditional observational analysis did not reveal a significant linear or non-linear association of serum 25(OH)D concentration with the risks of baseline and 2-year incident suicidality in the total sample (P > .05 for all). Sex-stratified analysis revealed a non-linear association between the 25(OH)D concentration and the risk of baseline SI in women (Poverall = .002; Pnon-linear = .001). Moreover, the risk of baseline SI in the 25(OH) insufficiency group was lower than that in the 25(OH) deficiency group in the total sample (odds ratio [OR] = 0.69, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.51–0.92, P = .012). This difference remained significant in women (OR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.40–0.87, P = .008) but not in men (OR = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.53–1.15, P = .205). Additionally, both linear and non-linear MR analyses did not support the causal effect of serum 25(OH)D concentration on the risk of baseline, 1-year and 2-year incident suicidality (P > .05 for all).

This study could not confirm the causal effect of vitamin D on suicidality risk among Chinese early adolescents. Future studies must confirm these findings with a large sample size.

To investigate mechanisms of suicide risk in people bereaved by suicide, prompted by observations that bereaved people experience higher levels of distress around dates of emotional significance. We hypothesised that suicide-bereaved first-degree relatives and partners experience an increased risk of self-harm and suicide around dates of (i) anniversaries of the death and (ii) the deceased’s birthday, compared with intervening periods.

We conducted a self-controlled case series study using national register data on all individuals living in Denmark from 1 January 1980 to 31 December 2016 and who were bereaved by the suicide of a first-degree relative or partner (spouse or cohabitee) during that period, and who had the outcome (any episode of self-harm or suicide) within 5 years and 6 weeks of the bereavement. We compared relative incidence of suicidal behaviour in (i) the first 30 days after bereavement and (ii) in the aggregated exposed periods (6 weeks either side of death anniversaries; 6 weeks either side of the deceased’s birthdays) to the reference (aggregated unexposed intervening periods). As an indirect comparison, we repeated these models in people bereaved by other causes.

We found no evidence of an elevated risk of suicidal behaviour during periods around anniversaries of a death or the deceased’s birthdays in people bereaved by suicide (adjusted incidence rate ratio [IRRadj] = 1.00; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.87–1.16) or other causes (IRRadj = 1.04; 95% CI = 1.00–1.08) compared with intervening periods. Rates were elevated in the 30 days immediately after bereavement by other causes (IRRadj: 1.95, 95% CI: 1.77–2.22).

Although people bereaved by suicide are at elevated risk of self-harm and suicide, our findings do not suggest that this risk is heightened around emotionally significant anniversaries. Bereavement care should be accessible at all points after a traumatic loss as needs will differ over the grief trajectory.

People with mental disorders frequently report experiences of discrimination within mental health services, which can have significant detrimental effects on individuals’ well-being and recovery. This study aimed to develop and validate a new standardized measure aiming to assess experiences of stigmatization among people with mental disorders within mental health services.

The scale was developed in Italian and tested for ease of use, comprehension, acceptability, relevance of items and response options within focus group session. A cross-sectional validation survey was conducted among mental health service users in Italy. Exploratory factor analysis with Promax oblique rotation, the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy and the Bartlett’s test of sphericity were used to assess the suitability of the sample for factor analysis. Reliability was assessed as internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha and as test–retest reliability using weighted kappa and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Precision was examined by Kendall’s tau-b coefficient.

Overall, 240 people with mental disorders participated in the study; 56 also completed the retest evaluation after 2 weeks. The 18 items of the scale converged over a two-factor solution (‘Dignity violation and personhood devaluation’ and ‘Perceived life restrictions and social exclusion’), accounting for 56.4% of the variance (KMO 0.903; Bartlett’s test p < 0.001). Cronbach’s alpha for the total score was 0.934. The scale showed one item with kappa above 0.81, four items between 0.61 and 0.80, ten items between 0.41 and 0.60, two items between 0.21 and 0.40 and only one item below 0.20. ICC was 0.928 (95% CI 0.877–0.958). Kendall’s tau-b ranged from 0.450 to 0.617 (p < 0.001).

The newly developed scale represents a valid and reliable measure for assessing experiences of stigma among patients receiving care within mental health services. The scale has provided initial evidence of being specifically tailored for individuals with psychotic and bipolar disorders. However, the factorial structure of the scale should be replicated through a confirmatory factor analysis on a larger sample of individuals with these conditions.

To assess whether there is a change in the prevalence of depression and suicidal ideation after the strict lockdown measures due to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, and to assess which are the factors associated with the incidence of a depressive episode or suicidal ideation during the lockdown.

Data from a longitudinal adult population-based cohort from Madrid and Barcelona were analysed (n = 1103). Face-to-face home-based (pre-pandemic) and telephone interviews were performed. Depression and suicidal ideation were assessed through an adaptation of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI 3.0). Population prevalence estimates and multivariable logistic regressions were computed.

Prevalence rates of depression changed significantly from before to after the COVID-19 outbreak (from 3.06% to 12.00%; p = 0.01) and per sex and age groups. Individuals reporting COVID-19 concerns (odds ratio [OR] = 3.11; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.45–6.69) and those feeling loneliness (OR = 1.99; 95% CI = 1.52–2.61) during the lockdown were at increased risk of developing depression during the confinement. Resilience showed a protective effect against the risk of depression (OR = 0.57; 95% CI = 0.39–0.83), while individuals perceiving social support during the confinement were at lower risk of developing suicidal thoughts (OR = 0.21; 95% CI = 0.09–0.46). Greater disability during the lockdown was also associated with the risk of suicidal ideation (OR = 2.77; 95% CI = 1.53–5.03).

Continuous reinforcement of mental health preventive and intervening measures is of global importance, particularly among vulnerable groups who are experiencing the most distress. Future research should strive to evaluate the long-term effects of the COVID-19 crisis on mental health.

The needs of young people attending mental healthcare can be complex and often span multiple domains (e.g., social, emotional and physical health factors). These factors often complicate treatment approaches and contribute to poorer outcomes in youth mental health. We aimed to identify how these factors interact over time by modelling the temporal dependencies between these transdiagnostic social, emotional and physical health factors among young people presenting for youth mental healthcare.

Dynamic Bayesian networks were used to examine the relationship between mental health factors across multiple domains (social and occupational function, self-harm and suicidality, alcohol and substance use, physical health and psychiatric syndromes) in a longitudinal cohort of 2663 young people accessing youth mental health services. Two networks were developed: (1) ‘initial network’, that shows the conditional dependencies between factors at first presentation, and a (2) ‘transition network’, how factors are dependent longitudinally.

The ‘initial network’ identified that childhood disorders tend to precede adolescent depression which itself was associated with three distinct pathways or illness trajectories; (1) anxiety disorder; (2) bipolar disorder, manic-like experiences, circadian disturbances and psychosis-like experiences; (3) self-harm and suicidality to alcohol and substance use or functioning. The ‘transition network’ identified that over time social and occupational function had the largest effect on self-harm and suicidality, with direct effects on ideation (relative risk [RR], 1.79; CI, 1.59–1.99) and self-harm (RR, 1.32; CI, 1.22–1.41), and an indirect effect on attempts (RR, 2.10; CI, 1.69–2.50). Suicide ideation had a direct effect on future suicide attempts (RR, 4.37; CI, 3.28–5.43) and self-harm (RR, 2.78; CI, 2.55–3.01). Alcohol and substance use, physical health and psychiatric syndromes (e.g., depression and anxiety, at-risk mental states) were independent domains whereby all direct effects remained within each domain over time.

This study identified probable temporal dependencies between domains, which has causal interpretations, and therefore can provide insight into their differential role over the course of illness. This work identified social, emotional and physical health factors that may be important early intervention and prevention targets. Improving social and occupational function may be a critical target due to its impacts longitudinally on self-harm and suicidality. The conditional independence of alcohol and substance use supports the need for specific interventions to target these comorbidities.

With advancements in cancer treatments, the survival rates of patients with their first primary cancer (FPC) have increased, resulting in a rise in the number of patients with second primary cancer (SPC). However, there has been no assessment on the incidence of suicide among patients with SPC. This study assessed the occurrence of suicide among patients with SPC and compared them with that in patients with FPC.

This was a retrospective, population-based cohort study that followed patients with FPC and SPC diagnosed from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) 17 registries database between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2019.

For patients with SPC, an age of 85+ years at diagnosis was associated with a higher incidence of suicide death (HR, 1.727; 95% CI, 1.075–2.774), while the suicide death was not considerably different in the chemotherapy group (P > 0.05). Female genital system cancers (HR, 3.042; 95% CI, 1.819–6.361) accounted for the highest suicide death among patients with SPC. The suicide death distribution of patients with SPC over time indicated that suicide events mainly occurred within 5 to 15 years of diagnosis. Compared with patients with FPC, patients with SPC in general had a lower risk of suicide, but increased year by year.

The risk of suicide was reduced in patients with SPC compared with patients with FPC, but increased year by year. Therefore, oncologists and related health professionals need to provide continuous psychological support to reduce the incidence of suicide. The highest suicide death was found among patients with female genital system cancer.

There is clear evidence that installing safety barriers is effective in preventing jumping suicides from high-risk bridges with only moderate displacement to other nearby bridges. However, the impact of barriers on jumping suicides across broader geographical areas is not well understood. We examined patterns in jumping suicides across the state of Victoria, Australia, after a safety barrier was installed at the West Gate Bridge which, before the installation of the barrier, was the site of approximately 40% of Victoria’s jumping suicides.

We used negative binomial regression analyses on Victorian data from 2000 to 2019 to compare rates of jumping suicides at the West Gate Bridge, other bridges and non-bridge jumping locations before, during and after the West Gate Bridge barrier installation. We conducted linear regression analyses to examine whether the distance travelled from the deceased’s usual residence to the location of their jumping suicide changed between the before, during and after barrier installation periods.

After installation of the barrier, there were no jumping suicides at the West Gate Bridge (rate ratio [RR] = 0.00, 95% credible intervals [95% Cr] = 0.00–0.0001) and there was strong evidence that the rate of jumping suicides at all locations declined by 65% (RR = 0.35, 95% Cr = 0.22–0.54). At other bridges, there was also evidence of a reduction (RR = 0.31, 95% Cr = 0.11–0.70), but there was no evidence of a change at non-bridge locations (RR = 0.74, 95% Cr = 0.39–1.30).

After installation of the safety barrier at the West Gate Bridge, jumping suicide in Victoria decreased overall and at other bridges, and did not appear to change at non-bridge locations. Our findings show that when barriers are installed at a site responsible for a disproportionately high number of jumping suicides, they are not only highly effective at the site where the barriers are installed but can also have a prevention impact beyond the immediate locale at similar sites.

Despite recommendations to initiate clozapine after two unsuccessful trials of antipsychotics, clozapine is underprescribed and initiated too late. The aim of this study was to describe different antipsychotic treatment sequences in the 36 months before the initiation of clozapine and to characterize clusters of treatment trajectories.

Using the French National Health Insurance database, a historical cohort study of the population in an area in western France was performed. The data from all new users of clozapine with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder in the period of 2017–2018 were evaluated. All outpatient reimbursements for antipsychotics during the 36 months before clozapine initiation were analysed. Successive reimbursements for identical treatments were grouped into treatment trials (TTs), and different trajectories were clustered using a state sequence analysis.

The results showed 1191 TTs for 287 individuals. The mean number of TTs per individual was 3.2. Risperidone, aripiprazole and haloperidol were the main treatments delivered. The frequencies of antipsychotics used differed between monotherapies and combination therapies. A three-cluster typology was identified: one cluster (n = 133) of ‘less treated’ younger individuals with fewer TTs and shorter TT durations; a second cluster (n = 53) of ‘more treated’ individuals with higher numbers of TTs and combinations of antipsychotics; and a third cluster (n = 103) of ‘treatment-stable’ older individuals with longer TT durations.

The results indicate that the median number of TTs during the 36 months before clozapine prescription was higher than the two recommended. The different trajectories were associated with individual characteristics and treatment differences, suggesting that additional studies of clinical parameters are needed to understand barriers to clozapine prescription.

Girls who experience an earlier onset of menarche than their peers are at increased risk of depressive symptoms in mid-adolescence, but it is unclear if this association persists into adulthood. This study examines whether longitudinal patterns of depressive symptoms from adolescence to adulthood vary according to timing of menarche.

About 4,864 female participants in the UK Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children provided data on age at onset of menarche (assessed in repeated questionnaires from 8 to 17 years) and depressive symptoms across nine time points (13 to 26 years) using the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire. We compared patterns of depressive symptoms in girls with ‘early’ (<11.5 years), ‘normative’ (11.5 to 13.5 years) and ‘late’ (≥13.5 years) menarche using a linear spline multilevel growth curve model adjusted for indicators of socioeconomic position, father absence and body mass index.

Early, compared with normative, menarche was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms at age 14 (imputed adjusted estimated difference = 0.94, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.44, 1.45), but the association attenuated at 24 years (0.24 [−0.72, 1.19]). Late menarche, compared with normative, was associated with a lower level of depressive symptoms at age 14 (−0.69 [−1.10, −0.29]), but this association also attenuated at 24 years (−0.15 [−0.92, 0.62]).

This study did not find a persistent effect of early menarche, compared to normative, on depressive symptoms. However, our findings are consistent with the level of depressive symptoms increasing at the onset of menarche irrespective of timing. The late onset girls ‘catch up’ with their peers who experience menarche earlier in terms of depressive symptoms. Future studies should continue to assess the impact of timing of menarche further into adulthood.

It has been suggested that people with mental disorders have an elevated risk to acquire severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and to be disproportionally affected by coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) once infected. We aimed to analyse the COVID-19 infection rate, course and outcome, including mortality and long COVID, in people with anxiety, depressive, neurodevelopmental, schizophrenia spectrum and substance use disorders relative to control subjects without these disorders.

This study constitutes a preregistered systematic review and random-effects frequentist and Bayesian meta-analyses. Major databases were searched up until 27 June 2023.

Eighty-one original articles were included reporting 304 cross-sectional and prospective effect size estimates (median n per effect-size = 114837) regarding associations of interest. Infection risk was not significantly increased for any mental disorder that we investigated relative to samples of people without these disorders. The course of COVID-19, however, is relatively severe, and long COVID and COVID-19-related hospitalization are more likely in all patient samples that we investigated. The odds of dying from COVID-19 were high in people with most types of mental disorders, except for those with anxiety and neurodevelopmental disorders relative to non-patient samples (pooled ORs range, 1.26–2.57). Bayesian analyses confirmed the findings from the frequentist approach and complemented them with estimates of the strength of evidence.

Once infected, people with pre-existing mental disorders are at an elevated risk for a severe COVID-19 course and outcome, including long COVID and mortality, relative to people without pre-existing mental disorders, despite an infection risk not significantly increased.