Background. While an association between cigarette smoking and depression has been established in Anglo populations, replication of tobacco–depression associations in countries where smoking is growing may provide important new insights. The objectives of this study were to estimate the association of depressive symptomatology with tobacco smoking, number of cigarettes smoked daily, and smoking cessation in a representative sample of the Mexican population.

Method. The data come from the Third National Addictions Survey (1998) conducted by the Mexican Ministry of Health, representative of Mexico's civilian population residing in cities and towns with 2500+ inhabitants, aged 18–64. Part of a multi-stage, stratified, probability sample, 1935 men and women answered a version of the survey that also included the CES-D depression scale. Analyses addressed the survey's complex design and controlled for income and educational level.

Results. Among women only, current smokers had twice the odds of elevated depressive symptomatology than never smokers (OR 2·1, 95% CI 1·3–3·5, p=0·002). For men, only those smoking a pack or more a day had greater odds of depressive symptomatology (OR 5·9, 95% CI 1·6–21·9, p=0·008). Overall, former smokers who ceased smoking within 6 months had lower odds of depressive symptomatology than current smokers (OR 0·4, 95% CI 0·1–1·0, p=0·042).

Conclusions. These findings add to the accumulating evidence for the association between smoking and depression in different cultures and populations.

Background. Late-onset depressive disorder is associated with white matter lesions and neuropsychological deficits that in some studies are linked to a poorer outcome for depression. Some white matter lesions may be vascular in origin. This study investigated the relationship between response or non-response to antidepressant monotherapy and neuropsychological function, structural brain measures and vascular factors.

Method. This was a case–control study. Fifty patients with late-onset major depressive disorder (29 who were responders to antidepressant monotherapy and 21 who were not) were compared with 35 non-depressed control subjects. Measures included assessment of vascular risk factors, neuropsychological testing and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan.

Results. After adjustment for depressed mood and medication at evaluation, both patient groups had significantly more impairment compared to control subjects on verbal learning tasks involving immediate or delayed recall. Patients who did not respond to antidepressant monotherapy had significantly poorer performance than controls on tests involving visuospatial ability, language, word recognition and tests of executive function, whereas there were no differences between control subjects and responders. On two tests of executive function (verbal fluency and the Stroop test) non-responders scored significantly worse than responders. There were no significant group differences on MRI measures of atrophy or of white matter lesions apart from a higher periventricular hyperintensity score in non-responders compared to controls. There were no group differences on measures of vascular disease.

Conclusion. The results lend support to the emerging evidence that resistance to treatment in late-onset depression may be associated with impaired executive function. Subtle cerebrovascular mechanisms may be involved.

Background. Major depressive disorder (MDD) has been associated with alterations in immune function. Suppression of natural killer (NK) cell activity (NKCA) reliably characterizes immunological alterations observed in MDD. Antidepressant pharmacotherapy has been associated with modulation of NKCA. Previous investigations into antidepressant modulation of NKCA have not employed randomized double-blind placebo controlled designs. Thus, it is unknown whether treatment-associated changes in immune function are due to drug, placebo, or spontaneous remission effects. The present investigation examined the effect of antidepressant treatment on NKCA utilizing a randomized double-blind placebo controlled experimental design.

Method. Patients (N=16) met DSM-IV criteria for MDD and were randomly assigned to drug (N=8; citalopram, 20 mg/day) or placebo (N=8) under double-blind conditions. Severity and pattern of depressive symptoms were assessed by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). NK cell function was measured using a standard chromium-release assay and NK cell number assessed by flow cytometry. HDRS scores, NK cell function, and NK cell numbers were collected at 0, 1, 2 and 4 weeks of treatment.

Results. Clinical response was associated with augmented NKCA independent of treatment condition. Failure to respond to treatment resulted in significantly reduced NKCA over treatment interval.

Conclusions. The present results suggest that alterations in the depressive syndrome, regardless of therapeutic modality, may be sufficient to modulate NKCA during antidepressant trials and thus may significantly impact on co-morbid health outcomes in MDD.

Background. Although suicide is a leading cause of death, few studies have attempted to predict suicidal ideation prospectively using epidemiological samples or multivariate methods.

Method. Discrete-time event history analysis was used to model the onset of thoughts of death or self-harm (TD/SH) in a population-based sample of female twins (N=2164) using variables from the demographic, psychopathological, childhood adversity, personality and life event domains. Univariate, multivariate-within domain and multivariate-across domain regression analyses were performed.

Results. Most variables predicted TD/SH in the univariate analyses. However, the only variables to predict TD/SH independently were obsessive symptoms, childhood sexual abuse, rural residence, unemployment, older age, lifetime history of cocaine misuse and low levels of education, personal religious devotion and altruism, as well as divorce/separation, loss of confidant, assault, job loss and financial problems in the previous month. This final model explained 16% of the variance in TD/SH. Lifetime histories of major depression, panic disorder and alcohol misuse had no significant independent effect.

Conclusions. Many variables, from all five domains of risk factors, are associated with the risk of TD/SH, but many of these effects may be mediated by other risk factors. Proximal life events and psychopathology may have more independent effects than other domains. The overall ability of these risk factors to predict TD/SH is modest. We cannot rule out that differences between these analyses and previous reports were due to our use of TD/SH as the dependent variable instead of thoughts of committing suicide per se.

Background. The pattern of all health care contacts among young people before and after attempted suicide is not well documented. Neither is it known if the health care contacts of young suicide attempters differ from those of older suicide attempters. This study investigated the age-related clinical characteristics of suicide attempters and the pattern of their contacts with health care before and after attempted suicide in different age groups, particularly adolescence and young adulthood.

Method. All consecutive 1198 suicide attempters treated in hospital emergency rooms in Helsinki between January 1997 and January 1998 were identified and divided into three age groups (15–24 years, 25–39 years, 40 years and over). Data were gathered on all health care contacts 1 year before and after the index attempt.

Results. Although adolescent and young adult suicide attempters suffered from severe mental disorders, a remarkable proportion of them were left without psychiatric consultation and aftercare recommendation following the attempt. Two-thirds of 15–19-year-old male suicide attempters had no treatment contact during the month before the attempt, while a quarter of them were referred to psychiatric consultation and a half had no healthcare contact in the month following the attempt.

Conclusions. These findings indicate considerable scope for improvement in the assessment of young suicide attempters and their referral to aftercare.

Background. The literature on Theory of Mind (ToM) in antisocial samples is limited despite evidence that the neural substrates of theory of mind task involve the same circuits implicated in the pathogenesis of antisocial behaviour.

Method. Eighty-nine male DSM-IV Antisocial Personality Disordered subjects (ASPDs) and 20 controls (matched for age and IQ) completed a battery of ToM tasks. The ASPD group was categorized into psychopathic and non-psychopathic groups based on a cut-off score of 18 on the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version.

Results. There were no significant group (control v. psychopath v. non-psychopathic ASPD) differences on basic tests of ToM but both psychopathic and non-psychopathic ASPDs performed worse on subtle tests of mentalizing ability (faux pas tasks). ASPDs can detect and understand faux pas, but show an indifference to the impact of faux pas. On the face/eye task non-psychopathic ASPDs showed impairments in the recognition of basic emotions compared with controls and psychopathic ASPDs. For complex emotions, no significant group differences were detected largely due to task difficulty.

Conclusions. The deficits in mentalizing ability in ASPD are subtle. For the majority of criminals with ASPD and psychopathy ToM abilities are relatively intact and may have an adaptive function in maintaining a criminal lifestyle. Our findings suggest the key deficits appear to relate more to their lack of concern about the impact on potential victims than the inability to take a victim perspective. The findings tentatively also suggest that ASPDs with neurotic features may be more impaired in mentalizing ability than their low anxious psychopathic counterparts.

Background. A previous principal components analysis of symptoms occurring after infectious mononucleosis suggested that a discrete fatigue syndrome occurs, which is independent of psychiatric disorder. This work has not been replicated and no latent class analysis of subjects has been published.

Method. We prospectively examined a cohort of 150 American primary care patients 2 and 6 months after the onset of corroborated infectious mononucleosis. A subset of 50 subjects was studied 4 years after onset. We performed principal components analyses of both psychological and somatic symptoms and latent class analyses of subjects.

Results. Principal components analyses consistently delineated two fatigue factors at 2 and 6 months and one fatigue factor at 4 years. These factors were separate from a mixed anxiety and depressive factor. A four-class solution for the latent class analyses consisted of most subjects with few symptoms, a few with many symptoms, a group with predominantly mood symptoms and some subjects with fatigue symptoms.

Conclusions. The symptoms of the principal factors with fatigue were similar to those previously described. Both the factors and classes were independent of an equally delineated mood factor and class. These results support the existence of two discrete chronic fatigue syndromes after infectious mononucleosis, one of which is still demonstrable 4 years after onset.

Background. Community surveys have assessed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in relation to traumatic events designated by respondents as the worst they have ever experienced. An assessment of PTSD in relation to all reported traumas would impose too great a burden on respondents, a considerable proportion of whom report multiple traumas. The ‘worst event’ method is efficient for identifying persons with PTSD, but may overestimate the conditional probability of PTSD associated with the entire range of PTSD-level traumas. In this report, we evaluate this potential bias.

Method. The Detroit Area Survey of Trauma (n=2181) estimated the PTSD risk from two samples of traumas: (1) a representative sample of traumas formed by selecting a random trauma from each respondent's list of traumas; and (2) traumas designated by respondents as the worst (the standard method).

Results. Both estimation methods converged on key findings, including identifying trauma types with the highest probability of PTSD and sex differences in the risk of PTSD. Compared to the random events, the ‘worst event’ method yielded a moderately higher conditional probability for PTSD (0·136 v. 0·092). The bias was due almost entirely to the deviation of the distribution of the worst events from expected values, if all event types had equal prior selection probabilities. Direct adjustment, setting the distribution equal to expected values and applying the observed probabilities of PTSD associated with individual event types brought the estimate close to the unbiased estimate, based on the randomly selected traumas.

Conclusions. Only the ‘worst event’ method can be used as a short-cut to assessing all traumas. The bias in the estimated risk of PTSD is modest and is attenuated by direct adjustment.

Background. This study compares patient and informant reports of depressive disorders in a community sample of elderly medical homecare patients. The associations between specific patterns of agreement/disagreement and other patient and informant characteristics are examined.

Method. A random sample of 355 elderly medical homecare patients and their informants were interviewed using the current mood section of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID).

Results. Thirty-seven patients (10·4%) reported a depressive disorder (major or subsyndromal) that was also identified by their informant while 27 (7·6%) patients self-reported depression that the informant did not identify. There were 250 patients (70·4%) who were not depressed according to both patient and informant report and 41 patients (11·5%) were identified as depressed by informant report alone. Patients identified as depressed by informant report alone were similar to patients who self-reported depression on a number of the sociodemographic and clinical correlates of depression, but had significantly poorer performance on items assessing orientation and short-term recall. These patients also had poorer functioning in a number of domains (social, cognitive, and functional) when compared with patients who were not depressed according to both the patient and informant. Finally, patients with younger informants were more likely to be identified as depressed by their informant.

Conclusions. Obtaining informant reports of depression may be a useful method for detecting clinically significant cases of late-life depression that would otherwise be missed when relying only on patient report.

Background. It is now well documented that both black and white patients with severe mental illness are likely to use different types of treatment facilities, have different lengths of hospital stays, and receive different types and dosages of psychotropic medications. It is still uncertain, however, whether these differences exist at the early stages of treatment.

Method. We examined treatment patterns for a countywide sample of patients with psychotic disorders recruited at their initial psychiatric hospitalization. Illness characteristics, prior treatment histories, admission conditions, and psychotropic medication use during this hospitalization were compared for both black and white patients.

Results. Black patients were less likely to have had out-patient treatment prior to their first hospitalization and were more likely to be hospitalized in public than in community psychiatric units than were white patients. Black patients were also more likely to be hospitalized primarily for a behavioral disturbance and escorted to the hospital by the emergency medical services or police, while white patients were more often hospitalized primarily for subjective suffering. These patterns were particularly significant for those with a non-schizophrenia diagnosis. However, there were few statistically significant differences between black and white patients on psychotropic medication use during the first hospitalization.

Conclusions. Differences during the early stages of treatment between black and white patients with psychotic disorders appear to arise most prominently before, rather than during, their first hospitalization.

Background. Clinical and epidemiological studies have reported an association between lifetime cigarette-smoking and panic attacks. Several explanations for this relationship have been proposed, mostly focusing on direct causal pathways. The objective of this study was to investigate a hypothesis of shared vulnerability by examining whether panic attacks and cigarette-smoking share genetic or environmental liability factors.

Method. Questionnaire data on 3172 female–female twins (1409 complete pairs), aged 18–31 years, from a population-based Norwegian twin registry, were used to calculate the correlation between genetic factors and the correlation between environmental factors that influence lifetime measures of panic attacks and daily smoking.

Results. The best-fitting biometrical twin model suggested that genetic factors influencing panic and smoking were uncorrelated. Shared or familial environmental factors were perfectly correlated, and accounted for 75% of the association between the phenotypes. The correlation between individual environmental factors influencing the phenotypes was 0·25 (0·07–0·44). In the full model, the genetic correlation was 0·17 (0·00–1·00), and genetic and shared environmental factors respectively accounted for 18% and 61% of the co-variance between panic and smoking.

Conclusion. The results suggest that panic attacks and lifetime smoking have few or no genetic liability factors in common. The shared environmental factors that influence the two phenotypes are identical. Liability to panic attacks in females appears to be more influenced by shared environmental factors than previously indicated by univariate studies.

Background. Mental disorders amplify suicide risk across the lifecourse, but most people with mental disorder do not take their own lives. Few controlled studies have examined the contribution of stressors to suicide risk.

Method. A case–control design was used to compare 86 suicides and 86 controls aged 50 years and older, matched on age, gender, race and county of residence. Structured interviews were conducted with proxy respondents for suicides and controls.

Results. Perceived physical illness, family discord and employment change amplified suicide risk after controlling for sociodemographic covariates and mental disorders that developed [ges ]1 year prior to death/interview. Only the effect of physical illness (OR 6·24, 95% CI 1·28–51·284) persisted after controlling for all active mental disorders.

Conclusions. Interventions to decrease the likelihood of financial stress and to help families manage discord and severe physical illness may effectively reduce suicides among middle-aged and older adults.

Background. Little is known about the factors associated with the receipt of care by older people. This study investigates the use, costs and factors associated with service usage among people aged 65 or older living in inner London.

Method. A community-based survey, using questionnaires, examined psychiatric and physical morbidity, formal and informal care. The relationships between demographic, pathological features and the costs of health and social care were explored using multivariate regression.

Results. A total of 1085 people were interviewed at home of these 18% did not receive any service at all. The total cost of services per week for people with dementia was £109, with activity limitation £14 and with depression £12. The greatest effect of physical limitation was on the receipt of social care. Dementia had the strongest effect on receipt of social care services. Depression increased health care costs to a much greater degree than social care costs. Despite presenting to services, black elders received significantly less health care than other people with the same needs. Older people living alone were more likely to receive social care support and appeared less likely to use health services.

Conclusions. Physical dependency significantly affects both health and social care costs. Increasing cognitive impairment mainly leads to increasing social care costs. Overall costs are increased by physical dependency, dementia, depression, subjective health problems, living alone and are negatively affected by being black.

Background. The goal of this investigation was to determine the association between self-reported childhood trauma and physical disorders among adults in the United States.

Method. Data were drawn from the National Comorbidity Survey (N=S877). Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to determine the associations between childhood physical abuse, sexual abuse, and childhood neglect and the likelihood of specific physical disorders among adults.

Results. Childhood physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect were associated with a statistically significantly increased risk of a wide range of physical illnesses during adulthood. After adjusting for demographic characteristics, lifetime anxiety and depressive disorders, alcohol and substance dependence, and all types of trauma: results showed that childhood physical abuse was associated with increased risk of lung disease (OR=1·5 (1·1, 2·2)), peptic ulcer (OR=1·5 (1·03, 2·2)) and arthritic disorders (OR=1·5 (1·1, 2·2)); childhood sexual abuse was associated with increased risk of cardiac disease (OR=3·7 (1·5, 9·4)); and childhood neglect was associated with increased risk of diabetes (OR=2·2 (1·1, 4·4)) and autoimmune disorders (OR=4·4 (1·7, 11·6)).

Conclusions. Consistent with previous work, these results suggest that self-reported childhood trauma is associated with increased risk of a range of physical illnesses during adulthood. Future research that includes replication of these findings using prospectively assessed physical and mental disorders with objectively measured biological data using a longitudinal design, including other known risk factors for these diseases and more detailed information on specific forms of abuse, is needed to understand the potential mechanisms of these links.

Background. Genetic influences have been shown to play a major role in determining the risk of alcohol dependence (AD) in both women and men; however, little attention has been directed to identifying the major sources of genetic variation in AD risk.

Method. Diagnostic telephone interview data from young adult Australian twin pairs born between 1964 and 1971 were analyzed. Cox regression models were fitted to interview data from a total of 2708 complete twin pairs (690 MZ female, 485 MZ male, 500 DZ female, 384 DZ male, and 649 DZ female/male pairs). Structural equation models were fitted to determine the extent of residual genetic and environmental influences on AD risk while controlling for effects of sociodemographic and psychiatric predictors on risk.

Results. Risk of AD was increased in males, in Roman Catholics, in those reporting a history of major depression, social anxiety problems, and conduct disorder, or (in females only) a history of suicide attempt and childhood sexual abuse; but was decreased in those reporting Baptist, Methodist, or Orthodox religion, in those who reported weekly church attendance, and in university-educated males. After allowing for the effects of sociodemographic and psychiatric predictors, 47% (95% CI 28–55) of the residual variance in alcoholism risk was attributable to additive genetic effects, 0% (95% CI 0–14) to shared environmental factors, and 53% (95% CI 45–63) to non-shared environmental influences.

Conclusions. Controlling for other risk factors, substantial residual heritability of AD was observed, suggesting that psychiatric and other risk factors play a minor role in the inheritance of AD.

Background. Recent research has demonstrated that smokers are at an elevated risk for psychiatric disorders. This study extends the enquiry by examining: (1) the specificity of the psychiatric sequelae of smoking; and (2) the variability in the likelihood of these sequelae by proximity and intensity of smoking.

Method. Data come from the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS), a representative sample of the US population 15–54 years of age. The Smoking Supplement was administered to a representative subset of 4414 respondents. A modified World Health Organization – Composite International Diagnostic Interview was used to measure DSM-III-R disorders. Survival analysis with smoking variables as time-dependent covariates was used to predict the subsequent onset of specific psychiatric disorders.

Results. The estimated effects of daily smoking varied across disorders. In the case of mood disorders, daily smoking predicted subsequent onset, with no variation between current versus past smokers or by smoking intensity. In the case of panic disorder and agoraphobia, current but not past smoking predicted subsequent onset; furthermore, the risk of these disorders in past smokers decreased with increasing time since quitting. In the case of substance use disorders, current but not past smoking predicted subsequent onset, with no variation by time since quitting or smoking intensity.

Conclusions. The data suggest that smoking cessation programmes would not prevent the onset of mood disorder, as ex-smokers do not differ from current smokers in their risk for these disorders. In comparison, daily smoking might be a causal factor in panic disorder and agoraphobia, conditions that might be preventable by smoking cessation. Additionally, current smoking might serve as a marker for targeting interventions to prevent alcohol and drug disorders.

Background. Previous work suggests that individuals with schizophrenia display an altered homovanillic acid (HVA) response to metabolic stress. The present study replicated and extended this paradigm, including individuals with elevated genetic risk for schizophrenia.

Method. Patients with psychosis (n=50), non-psychotic first-degree relatives of patients with psychosis (n=51) and controls without psychosis (n=50) underwent, in randomized order, double-blind administration of placebo and the glucose analogue 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG), which induces a mild, transient clinical state of glucoprivation. Plasma HVA and cortisol were assessed twice before the start of the 2DG/placebo infusion (baseline values), as well as four times post infusion. Data were analysed using multi-level random regression techniques.

Results. During the stress condition, significant increases in plasma HVA and cortisol were found. The increase in plasma HVA level during the stress condition was significantly stronger in patients than in controls, whereas this was not the case in relatives v. controls. The increase in plasma cortisol during the stress condition was significantly less in patients than controls, but no significant difference in the increase of plasma cortisol during stress was found in the comparison between relatives and controls.

Conclusions. Patients with psychosis, but not their non-psychotic first-degree relatives, show an altered neurobiological response to metabolic stress, suggesting that this dysregulation is not a genetically transmitted vulnerability, but an illness-related effect, possibly reflecting acquired sensitization of neuroendocrine systems by repeated environmental stressors or repeated stimulation with agonistic drugs.

Background. Prior research suggested that time splitting – suppressing the past and dissociating it from present and future – protected refugee mental health in the aftermath of catastrophe. The current study investigates temporal reintegration, defined as cognitive recapture of the past and reconnecting it with present and future, the mental health effects of temporal reintegration, and factors moderating the associated risk for Depressive Disorder.

Method. A community sample of 608 Southeast Asian refugees, resettled in Vancouver British Columbia between 1979 and 1981, were interviewed on three separate occasions over a 10-year period. Participants performed a temporal orientation task and responded to questions about employment, social relations and mental health. Depressive Disorder, measured by a typology derived from Grade of Membership analysis of symptoms, constituted the dependent variable. Latent Growth Curve Analysis was used to examine both levels and rates of change in the probability of Depressive Disorder as predicted by changes in temporal reintegration, as well as the contribution of putative social and psychological moderators to explaining variations in growth parameters.

Results. Time relatedness increased over the duration of the study. Temporal reintegration jeopardized mental health. Employment and relational stability each moderated the mental health effects of temporal reintegration.

Conclusions. Although time splitting may be effective in coping with adversity over the short-term, eventual temporal reintegration is probably ineluctable. Stability in love and work are protective factors, mitigating the mental health vicissitudes of temporal reintegration. Implications for optimal timing of clinical interventions are discussed.

Background. Despite extensive research, the reasons why patients consult their doctors are unclear. The aim of the current study was to identify the psychosocial and illness related factors that independently predicted primary care consultation over a 5-year period.

Method. We carried out a prospective, population-based cohort study with three waves of data collection by postal questionnaire in one general practice in Greater Manchester (UK). Consultation data were sought from primary care records on a random subsample of 800 adult patients. The main outcome measure was the number of consultations (including surgery and home visits) over the 5 years of the study as determined by raters blind to questionnaire responses. Questionnaire measures included the 12-item version of the General Health Questionnaire, the Illness Attitude Scales, a somatic symptom scale, a fatigue scale, a functional assessment of disability.

Results. Consultation data were obtained on 738 patients (92% of selected subjects), who accounted for 12182 consultations. Negative illness attitudes, the presence of physical and psychiatric disorder, health anxiety, changes in psychological distress, reported physical symptoms and demographic factors such as age and sex were independently associated with consultation over a 5-year period. These variables together accounted for a difference of ten consultations per year between groups.

Conclusion. Consultation in primary care is a complex behaviour with a complex aetiology. Terms such as ‘frequent attenders’ may be less helpful than recognizing a number of dimensions that operate across the whole spectrum of consultation frequency. Future research should consider the wider context of consultation.

Background. The problem-gambling literature has identified a range of individual, cognitive, behavioral and emotional factors as playing important roles in the development, maintenance and treatment of problem gambling. However, familial factors have often been neglected. The current study aims to investigate the possible influence of parental factors on offspring gambling behavior.

Method. A total of 189 families (546 individuals) completed several questionnaires including the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) and the Gambling Related Cognition Scale (GRCS). The relationships were examined using Pearson product-moment correlations and structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses.

Results. Results showed that generally parents' (especially fathers') gambling cognitions and gambling behaviors positively correlated with offspring gambling behaviors and cognitions. However, SEM analyses showed that although parental gambling behavior was directly related to offspring gambling behavior, parental cognitions were not related to offspring gambling behavior directly but indirectly via offspring cognitions.

Conclusion. The findings show that the influence of parental gambling cognition on offspring gambling behavior is indirect and via offspring cognitions. The results suggest a possible cognitive mechanism of transmission of gambling behavior in the family from one generation to the next.