Erika Lauronen

Good school performance is a risk factor of suicide in psychoses: a 35-year follow up of the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort

Objective:  Our aim was to analyse the relationship between good school performance and risk of suicide in the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort, especially in psychoses.

Links Between Creativity and Mental Disorder

A link between mental disorder and decreased ability is commonly assumed, but evidence to the contrary also exists. In reviewing any association between creativity and mental disorder, our aim is not only to update the literature but also to include an epidemiological and theoretical discussion of the topic. For literature retrieval, we used Medline, PsycINFO, and manual literature searches. Studies are numerous: most are empirical, many having methodological difficulties and variations in definitions and concepts. There is little consensus. However, some trends are apparent. We found 13 major case series (over 100 cases), case-control studies, or population-based studies, with valid, reliable measures of mental disorders. The results of all but one of these studies supported the association, at least when concerning particular groups of mental disorders; the findings were somewhat unclear in two studies. Most of the remainder that are not included in our more detailed examination also show a fragile association between creativity and mental disorder, but the link is not apparent for all groups of mental disorders or for all forms of creativity. In conclusion, evidence exists to support some form of association between creativity and mental disorder, but the direction of any causal link remains obscure.

Inter-correlations between Cloninger's temperament dimensions-- a meta-analysis.

The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) was developed to measure the following temperament dimensions: novelty seeking (NS), harm avoidance (HA), reward dependence (RD) and persistence (P). These four dimensions of temperament were originally proposed to be independent of one another. In this study the inter-relationships between the dimensions were studied with meta-analytic techniques. We also studied the effects of sociodemographic factors (location of the study, mean age and gender distribution) on correlations between temperament dimensions. We searched studies on healthy (non-clinical) populations that used the TCI (version 9), and that had a required sample size of at least 100. The search resulted in 16 articles. The resulted pooled correlation coefficient was medium level between NS and HA (-0.27). Correlations were small for HA-P (-0.20), NS-P (-0.14), NS-RD (0.10), RD-P (0.05) and HA-RD (0.04). In meta-regression, the correlation NS-P was significantly affected by the location of the study (Asian/other) and by the gender distribution of the sample. In the HA-P correlation, the mean age of the sample affected the correlation. In conclusion, we found a medium level negative correlation between NS and HA; other correlations between the dimensions were small. These findings mainly support Cloningers theory of independent dimensions.

Socio-demographic and clinical predictors of occupational status in schizophrenic psychoses—follow-up within the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort

We studied occupational status of persons with schizophrenic psychoses by age 34 in a longitudinal population-based cohort and predicted which demographic and illness-related factors could support the patients to maintain their occupational capacity. Subjects of the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort with the diagnosis of DSM-III-R schizophrenic psychoses (n=113) by the year 1997 were followed until the end of year 2000. Various illness and socio-demographic factors at the time of onset of illness were used as predictors. At the end of the follow-up time 50 (44%) of patients were not pensioned and 22 (20%) were also working at least half of the time during year 2000. After adjusting for gender, being unemployed at onset, educational level and proportion of time spent in psychiatric hospitals, those who were married or cohabiting at the time of onset of illness were less often on pension than those who were single (OR 6.51; 95% CI 1.83-23.12). Thus, nearly half of the patients with schizophrenic psychoses were not pensioned after an average 10 years follow-up. Based on our findings, those who were single at time of their onset of illness probably need most support to retain their contacts to work life.

Patterns of psychiatric hospitalizations in schizophrenic psychoses within the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort

We report patterns of hospitalization in schizophrenic psychoses by age 34 in a longitudinal population-based cohort. We test the predictive ability of various demographic and illness-related variables on patterns of hospitalization, with a special focus on the length of the first psychiatric hospitalization. All living subjects of the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort with DSM-III-R schizophrenia (n=88) and other schizophrenia spectrum cases (n=27) by the year 1997 in the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register were followed for an average of 10.5 years. Measures of psychiatric hospitalization included time to re-hospitalization (as continuous and as re-hospitalization within 2 years) and the number of hospital episodes. Length of the first hospitalization, other illness-related and various socio-demographic predictors were used to predict hospitalization patterns. After adjusting for gender, age at first admission and number of hospital days a short (1–14 days) first hospitalization (reference >30 days; adjusted odds ratio 6.39; 95% CI 2.00–20.41) and familial risk of psychosis (OR 3.36; 1.09–10.39) predicted re-hospitalization within 2 years. A short first hospitalization also predicted frequent psychiatric admissions defined as the first three admissions within 3 years (OR 13.77; 3.92–48.36). A short first hospitalization was linked to increased risk of re-hospitalizations. Although short hospitalization is recommended by several guidelines, there may be a group of patients with schizophrenic psychoses in which too short a hospitalization may lead to inadequate treatment response.

0519 ASSOCIATION BETWEEN FAMILIAL RISK FOR PSYCHOSIS AND PROBLEMS MEASURED WITH THE YOUTH SELF-REPORT AT THE AGE OF 15–16 YEARS

1) Department of Psychiatry, University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital, Finland; 2) Muurola Hospital, Hospital District of Lapland, Finland; 3) Clinic of Child Psychiatry, University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital, Finland; 4) Department of Public Health Science and General Practice, University of Oulu, Finland; 5) Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, UK; 6) Academy of Finland

Étude de la cohorte nord-finlandaise de 1966: facteurs prédictifs et conséquences de la schizophrénie

RésuméDes anomalies de la cognition, de la motricité fine, des émotions et du comportement sont fréquentes chez les enfants apparemment sains, qui plus tard développeront une schizophrénie. Ces éléments suggèrent que certains facteurs favorisants sétablissent bien avant que le diagnostic de psychose ne soit fait. Nous avons tenté de recenser les facteurs contribuant au développement des schizophrénies. Nous nous sommes polarisés sur les facteurs génétiques, les complications de la grossesse et de l’accouchement, le développement précoce, les performances scolaires ainsi que sur les retentissement physique et social. Ce travail est basés sur une revue des travaux scientifiques, des articles publiées et des recherches en cours concernant la cohorte nord-finlandaise de 1966.AbstractSubtle motor, emotional, cognitive and behavioural abnormalities are often present in apparently healthy children and adolescents who later develop schizophrenia. This suggests that some aspects of causation are established long before psychosis becomes manifest. We aim to assess the factors contributing to the development of schizophrenia focusing mainly on genetic factors, pregnancy and delivery complications, early development and scholastic performance, as well as later educational, social and health consequences. This is done by reviewing the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort, its scientific activities, publications and work in progress.