Psychiatry - Research Publications
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 4 of 4
-
ItemA Prospective Study of Diet Quality and Mental Health in Adolescents(PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE, 2011-09-21)OBJECTIVES: A number of cross-sectional and prospective studies have now been published demonstrating inverse relationships between diet quality and the common mental disorders in adults. However, there are no existing prospective studies of this association in adolescents, the onset period of most disorders, limiting inferences regarding possible causal relationships. METHODS: In this study, 3040 Australian adolescents, aged 11-18 years at baseline, were measured in 2005-6 and 2007-8. Information on diet and mental health was collected by self-report and anthropometric data by trained researchers. RESULTS: There were cross-sectional, dose response relationships identified between measures of both healthy (positive) and unhealthy (inverse) diets and scores on the emotional subscale of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), where higher scores mean better mental health, before and after adjustments for age, gender, socio-economic status, dieting behaviours, body mass index and physical activity. Higher healthy diet scores at baseline also predicted higher PedsQL scores at follow-up, while higher unhealthy diet scores at baseline predicted lower PedsQL scores at follow-up. Improvements in diet quality were mirrored by improvements in mental health over the follow-up period, while deteriorating diet quality was associated with poorer psychological functioning. Finally, results did not support the reverse causality hypothesis. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the importance of diet in adolescence and its potential role in modifying mental health over the life course. Given that the majority of common mental health problems first manifest in adolescence, intervention studies are now required to test the effectiveness of preventing the common mental disorders through dietary modification.
-
ItemA consensus statement for safety monitoring guidelines of treatments for major depressive disorder(SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD, 2011-09)OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to present an overview of screening and safety considerations for the treatment of clinical depressive disorders and make recommendations for safety monitoring. METHOD: Data were sourced by a literature search using MEDLINE and a manual search of scientific journals to identify relevant articles. Draft guidelines were prepared and serially revised in an iterative manner until all co-authors gave final approval of content. RESULTS: Screening and monitoring can detect medical causes of depression. Specific adverse effects associated with antidepressant treatments may be reduced or identified earlier by baseline screening and agent-specific monitoring after commencing treatment. CONCLUSION: The adoption of safety monitoring guidelines when treating clinical depression is likely to improve overall physical health status and treatment outcome. It is important to implement these guidelines in the routine management of clinical depression.
-
Item
-
ItemGlutamate cysteine ligase (GCL) and self reported depression: An association study from the HUNT(ELSEVIER, 2011-06)BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence suggesting oxidative stress may play a role in the aetiology of depression. Glutathione is the brain's predominant free radical scavenger, and associated polymorphisms of the glutamate cysteine ligase (GCL) gene have been reported for related psychiatric disorders. The aim of the study was to investigate candidate polymorphisms of GCL validated in schizophrenia and their association with current state depression, as measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). METHODS: Polymorphisms were genotyped on 983 cases and 967 controls selected from a population sample of adults participating in the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study. Cases were the top scoring individuals (98.5th percentile) on the HADS depression subscale while the controls were randomly selected from below this cut-off. The polymorphisms comprised three SNPs from GCLM, the gene encoding the GCL modifier and 9 SNPs plus a trinucleotide repeat (TNTR) from intron 1 and the 5'UTR of GCLC, the gene encoding the GCL catalytic subunit. Using the linkage disequilibrium between the GCLC markers we also tested whether SNPs could represent the variation of the TNTR. RESULTS: The candidate polymorphisms showed no evidence for association with depression. The C allele of SNP rs9474592 is coupled with the 9 GAG repeats allele of the TNTR, r²=0.81. None of the other SNPs either individually or as two or three-SNP haplotypes was associated with the TNTR alleles. LIMITATIONS: Depression was self-reported and measured at one time point. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides no evidence to suggest that polymorphisms of GCL are associated with self-reported depression.