Childhood somatic complaints predict generalized anxiety and depressive disorders during young adulthood in a community sample.

BACKGROUND: Children with somatic complaints are at increased risk for emotional disorders during childhood. Whether this elevated risk extends into young adulthood - and to which specific disorders - has rarely been tested with long-term prospective-longitudinal community samples. Here we test whether frequent and recurring stomach aches, headaches, and muscle aches during childhood predict emotional disorders in adulthood after accounting for childhood psychiatric and physical health status and psychosocial adversity. METHOD: The Great Smoky Mountains Study is a community representative sample with 1420 participants. Children/adolescents were assessed 4-7 times between ages 9-16 years. They were assessed again up to three times between ages 19-26 years. Childhood somatic complaints were coded when subjects or their parents reported frequent and recurrent headaches, stomach aches, or muscular/joint aches at some point when children were aged 9-16 years. Psychiatric disorders were assessed with the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment and the Young Adult Psychiatric Assessment. RESULTS: Frequent and recurrent somatic complaints in childhood predicted adulthood emotional disorders. After controlling for potential confounders, predictions from childhood somatic complaints were specific to later depression and generalized anxiety disorder. Long-term predictions did not differ by sex. Somatic complaints that persisted across developmental periods were associated with the highest risk for young adult emotional distress disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Children from the community with frequent and recurrent physical distress are at substantially increased risk for emotional distress disorders during young adulthood. Preventions and interventions for somatic complaints could help alleviate this risk.

A heavy burden on young minds: the global burden of mental and substance use disorders in children and youth.

BACKGROUND: Mental and substance use disorders are common and often persistent, with many emerging in early life. Compared to adult mental and substance use disorders, the global burden attributable to these disorders in children and youth has received relatively little attention. METHOD: Data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 was used to investigate the burden of mental and substance disorders in children and youth aged 0-24 years. Burden was estimated in terms of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), derived from the sum of years lived with disability (YLDs) and years of life lost (YLLs). RESULTS: Globally, mental and substance use disorders are the leading cause of disability in children and youth, accounting for a quarter of all YLDs (54.2 million). In terms of DALYs, they ranked 6th with 55.5 million DALYs (5.7%) and rose to 5th when mortality burden of suicide was reattributed. While mental and substance use disorders were the leading cause of DALYs in high-income countries (HICs), they ranked 7th in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) due to mortality attributable to infectious diseases. CONCLUSIONS: Mental and substance use disorders are significant contributors to disease burden in children and youth across the globe. As reproductive health and the management of infectious diseases improves in LMICs, the proportion of disease burden in children and youth attributable to mental and substance use disorders will increase, necessitating a realignment of health services in these countries.

Genome-Wide Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Alcohol Consumption Across Youth and Early Adulthood.

The public health burden of alcohol is unevenly distributed across the life course, with levels of use, abuse, and dependence increasing across adolescence and peaking in early adulthood. Here, we leverage this temporal patterning to search for common genetic variants predicting developmental trajectories of alcohol consumption. Comparable psychiatric evaluations measuring alcohol consumption were collected in three longitudinal community samples (N=2,126, obs=12,166). Consumption-repeated measurements spanning adolescence and early adulthood were analyzed using linear mixed models, estimating individual consumption trajectories, which were then tested for association with Illumina 660W-Quad genotype data (866,099 SNPs after imputation and QC). Association results were combined across samples using standard meta-analysis methods. Four meta-analysis associations satisfied our pre-determined genome-wide significance criterion (FDR<0.1) and six others met our 'suggestive' criterion (FDR<0.2). Genome-wide significant associations were highly biological plausible, including associations within GABA transporter 1, SLC6A1 (solute carrier family 6, member 1), and exonic hits in LOC100129340 (mitofusin-1-like). Pathway analyses elaborated single marker results, indicating significant enriched associations to intuitive biological mechanisms, including neurotransmission, xenobiotic pharmacodynamics, and nuclear hormone receptors (NHR). These findings underscore the value of combining longitudinal behavioral data and genome-wide genotype information in order to study developmental patterns and improve statistical power in genomic studies.

Generalized anxiety and C-reactive protein levels: a prospective, longitudinal analysis.

BACKGROUND: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is highly co-morbid with depression. Depression is associated with elevated levels of the inflammation marker C-reactive protein (CRP), cross-sectionally and over time. To date, no studies have looked at the association between CRP and GAD. METHOD: A total of nine waves of data from the prospective population-based Great Smoky Mountains Study (n=1420) were used, covering children in the community aged 9-16, 19 and 21 years old. Structured interviews were used at each assessment to assess GAD symptoms, diagnosis and cumulative episodes. Blood spots were collected and assayed for high-sensitivity CRP levels. RESULTS: GAD was associated with increased levels of CRP in bivariate cross-sectional analyses. These bivariate associations, however, were attenuated after accounting for demographic, substance-use and health-related covariates. In longitudinal models, there was little evidence that CRP predicted later GAD. Associations from GAD to later CRP were attenuated in models adjusted for health-related coavariates and there was evidence that the GAD-CRP association was mediated by body mass index (BMI) and medication use. CONCLUSIONS: Similar to depression, GAD was associated with elevated levels of CRP, but the effect of GAD on CRP levels was explained by the effect of GAD on health-related behaviors such as BMI and medication use. This study suggests differences in the association between inflammation and depression and GAD.

Predicting persistent alcohol problems: a prospective analysis from the Great Smoky Mountain Study.

BACKGROUND: Rates of alcohol disorders peak in late adolescence and decrease substantially into the mid-20s. Our aim was to identify risk factors that predict alcohol problems that persist into the mid-20s. METHOD: Data are from the prospective, population-based Great Smoky Mountains Study (GSMS; n=1420), which followed children through late adolescence and into young adulthood. Alcohol persisters were defined as subjects with an alcohol disorder (abuse or dependence) in late adolescence (ages 19 and 21 years) that continued to meet criteria for an alcohol disorder at the mid-20s assessment. RESULTS: The 3-month prevalence of having an alcohol disorder (abuse or dependence) decreased markedly from late adolescence into the mid-20s. A third of late adolescents with an alcohol disorder continued to meet criteria for an alcohol disorder in young adulthood (37 of 144 who met criteria in late adolescence). Risk factors for persister status included multiple alcohol abuse criteria during late adolescence but no alcohol dependence criteria. Risk factors for persister status also included associated features of alcohol dependence such as craving alcohol and drinking to unconsciousness. Persister status was also associated with depression, cannabis dependence and illicit substance use, but not with other psychiatric disorders. More than 90% of late adolescents with three or more of the risk factors identified met criteria for a young adult alcohol disorder. CONCLUSIONS: Symptoms of alcohol abuse, not dependence, best predict long-term persistence of alcohol problems. The set of risk factors identified may be a useful screen for selective and indicated prevention efforts.

Child-, adolescent- and young adult-onset depressions: differential risk factors in development?

BACKGROUND: Previous research reported that childhood adversity predicts juvenile- onset but not adult-onset depression, but studies confounded potentially genuine differences in adversity with differences in the recency with which adversity was experienced. The current study paper took into account the recency of risk when testing for differences among child-, adolescent- and young adult-onset depressions. METHOD: Up to nine waves of data were used per subject from two cohorts of the Great Smoky Mountains Study (GSMS; n=1004), covering children in the community aged 9-16, 19 and 21 years. Youth and one of their parents were interviewed using the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment (CAPA) between ages 9 and 16; these same youth were interviewed using the Young Adult Psychiatric Assessment (YAPA) at ages 19 and 21. The most common psychosocial risk factors for depression were assessed: poverty, life events, parental psychopathology, maltreatment, and family dysfunction. RESULTS: Consistent with previous research, most childhood psychosocial risk factors were more strongly associated with child-onset than with adolescent-/adult-onset depression. When potentially genuine risk differences among the depression-onset groups were disentangled from differences due to the recency of risk, child- and young adult-onset depression were no longer different from one another. Adolescent-onset depression was associated with few psychosocial risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: There were no differences in putative risk factors between child- and young adult-onset depression when the recency of risk was taken into account. Adolescent-onset depression was associated with few psychosocial risk factors. It is possible that some adolescent-onset depression cases differ in terms of risk from child- and young adult-onset depression.

The Great Smoky Mountains Study of Youth. Functional impairment and serious emotional disturbance.

BACKGROUND: Federal regulations require states to estimate the prevalence and incidence of serious emotional disturbance (SED) in children, defined as a DSM-III-R diagnosis in the presence of impaired functioning in 1 or more areas. We reviewed the published data on SED and examined rates and correlates of SED in an ongoing epidemiologic study of children. METHODS: Rates of DSM-III-R disorders, functional impairment, and their co-occurrence (SED) were examined in a representative population sample of 9-, 11-, and 13-year-olds from a predominantly rural area of North Carolina. Three measures of functional impairment were used, and their interrelationship and impact on rates of SED were examined. RESULTS: Serious emotional disturbance was identified in 4% to 8% of the study population, depending on the measure of impairment; the rate of DSM-III-R disorder ignoring impairment was 20.3%. One quarter of children identified as having SED on any measure were identified by all 3, and one half by 2 or more. Behavioral disorders, emotional disorders, and comorbidity were associated with a significant increase in the likelihood of SED; enuresis and tic disorders in the absence of comorbidity were not. Diagnosis and impairment made independent contributions to the increase in service use seen in children with SED. Poverty greatly increased the likelihood of SED. CONCLUSIONS: Specific areas of functional impairment should be examined when SED is assessed and treatment is planned. Plans to target mental health care resources to children with SED need to be accompanied by efforts to ensure access to those resources.

Psychiatric disorders in pediatric primary care. Prevalence and risk factors.

Children aged 7 to 11 years visiting their primary care pediatrician for a wide range of reasons were studied to determine the one-year prevalence of DSM-III disorders and the risk factors associated with them. Parents completing the Child Behavior Checklist about their children identified problems that placed 24.7% of 789 children in the clinical range. Detailed psychiatric interviews with 300 parents and children, using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, yielded a one-year weighted prevalence of one or more DSM-III disorders of 22.0% +/- 3.4%, combining diagnoses based on either the child or the parent interview.

The Great Smoky Mountains Study of Youth. Goals, design, methods, and the prevalence of DSM-III-R disorders.

BACKGROUND: The Great Smoky Mountains Study of youth focuses on the relationship between the development of psychiatric disorder and the need for and use of mental health services. METHODS: A multistage, overlapping cohorts design was used, in which 4500 of the 11758 children aged 9, 11, and 13 years in an 11-county area of the southeastern United States were randomly selected for screening for psychiatric symptoms. Children who scored in the top 25% on the screening questionnaire, together with a 1 in 10 random sample of the rest, were recruited for 4 waves of intensive, annual interviews (n = 1015 at wave 1). In a parallel study, all American Indian children aged 9, 11, and 13 years were recruited (N = 323 at wave 1). RESULTS: The 3-month prevalence (+/-SE) of any DSM-III-R axis I disorder in the main sample, weighted to reflect population prevalence rates, was 20.3% +/- 1.7%. The most common diagnoses were anxiety disorders (5.7% +/- 1.0%), enuresis (5.1% +/- 1.0%), tic disorders (4.2% +/- 0.9%), conduct disorder (3.3% +/- 0.6%), oppositional defiant disorder (2.7% +/- 0.4%), and hyperactivity (1.9% +/- 0.4%). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of psychiatric disorder in this rural sample was similar to rates reported in other recent studies. Poverty was the strongest demographic correlate of diagnosis, in both urban and rural children.

Depressive comorbidity in children and adolescents: empirical, theoretical, and methodological issues.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to examine comorbidity in the context of child and adolescent depression. METHOD: The authors reviewed recent epidemiological studies using standardized interviews and DSM-III or DSM-III-R criteria. RESULTS: There was a high rate of comorbidity in children and adolescents with major depressive disorders or dysthymia. Comorbidity with conduct disorder/oppositional defiant disorder ranged from 21% to 83%; comorbidity with anxiety disorder ranged from 30% to 75%; and comorbidity with attention deficit disorder ranged from 0% to 57.1%. Rates of depressive comorbidity found in community studies were similar to the rates found in clinical studies. In almost all cases, the disorders were more common in depressed children than expected by chance, and the rates of other disorders in depressed children were higher than the rates of depression in those with depression. CONCLUSIONS: The mechanisms by which comorbidity occurs are obscure at present. Several possibilities and their implications for nosology, epidemiology, and treatment research are discussed.

Above and below the threshold: severity of psychiatric symptoms and functional impairment in a pediatric sample.

Pediatricians are sufficiently concerned about the importance of "subthreshold" mental health problems to have joined in the movement to create a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders for the primary care setting (DSM-PC), with the aim of establishing a set of criteria for disorders that do not meet the severity requirements of the American Psychiatric Association's current DSM. An element in the argument for a DSM-PC is that there is a high level of functional impairment and need for treatment in children with mental health problems below the DSM threshold. This was examined in 789 children aged 7 through 11 recruited sequentially from the pediatric clinics of a health maintenance organization, compared with 134 age-matched children seen in a psychiatric clinic. Of the pediatric patients, 22% had one or more clinical-level DSM-III diagnoses, and 42% had a threshold-level disorder, compared with 65% and 34%, respectively, of psychiatric patients. In the pediatric sample, most threshold, and all clinical-level disruptive behavior disorders were associated with significant levels of functional impairment. There was little evidence that emotional disorders (anxiety and depression), even at the clinical level, were associated with significant impairment. One implication of these results is that pediatricians can expect one child in five to have a clinical-level DSM disorder. A second is that intervention at low levels of disruptive behavioral symptomatology may be needed if significant functional impairment is to be avoided.

Psychopathology in pediatric primary care: the new hidden morbidity.

In a study of emotional and behavioral problems seen in children attending pediatric primary care clinics in a health maintenance organization, parents of 789 children 7 to 11 years of age completed a behavior screening questionnaire, the Child Behavior Checklist. Of the 195 (24.7%) children identified by the checklist as disturbed, 126 were given a detailed psychiatric assessment using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, a structured psychiatric interview of known validity and reliability. A randomly selected group of 174 nondisturbed children was also assessed. The pediatricians' judgment about the presence of emotional and behavioral problems, made at the index clinic visit, was compared with diagnoses made from the computer-scored interviews. Pediatricians diagnosed one or more such problems in 5.6% of the children (weighted estimate: 95% confidence limits 3.8% to 7.6%), compared with 11.8% (95% confidence interval 9.3% to 13.5%) based on the interview with the parent. Pediatricians were highly specific, ie, 84% of children assessed as nondisturbed had no psychiatric disorder, but they showed low sensitivity, ie, they only identified 17% of the children with behavioral or emotional problems, giving a "hidden morbidity rate" of 83% (ie, 83% of cases were not identified). The role of primary care pediatricians in the identification, prevention and treatment of what has been called "the new morbidity" is discussed. We suggest that, on the basis of these findings, emotional and behavioral problems in children have to be seen as "the new hidden morbidity."

Service utilization and psychiatric diagnosis in pediatric primary care: the role of the gatekeeper.

Levels of morbidity in 789 children 7 to 11 years of age attending two primary care pediatric clinics in a health maintenance organization were examined in relation to psychiatric disturbance. Physical morbidity was measured as mean number of illness episodes per year enrolled, based on the child's medical record. Two measures of psychiatric disturbance were compared: the pediatricians' judgment and a detailed assessment using standard psychiatric interviews with parent and child. Children identified by pediatricians as disturbed had more than twice as many physical illness episodes as nonidentified children. Children identified by the standard psychiatric assessment had the same number of physical illness episodes as nondisturbed children. Pediatricians showed high specificity but low sensitivity to mental illness. Their sensitivity in the high user group was double that in the low user group. These results suggest that (1) the association between mental illness and high use may be, in part, the result of the confounding factor of physicians' judgment; (2) in settings where primary care practitioners serve as "gatekeepers" to mental health services, the offset effect of lower medical service use following psychiatric treatment may be partially explained by this; (3) the source of referral must be taken into account when assessing the offset effect in other settings.

Child psychiatric disorders and their correlates: a primary care pediatric sample.

Psychiatric interviews with 300 parents and children drawn from a first-stage screening sample of 789 children aged 7 to 11 attending primary care pediatric clinics, were carried out using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. The weighted prevalence of one or more DSM-III disorders was 11.8% based on parent interviews, 13.8% based on child interviews, and 22.0% based on either. Correlates of specific disorders varied depending on the informant, but parent-reported stress in the child's life was associated with disorders reported by both parent and child. The study confirms a high rate of unrecognized and untreated child psychopathology in the community.

Toward establishing an empirical basis for the diagnosis of oppositional defiant disorder.

OBJECTIVES: (1) To determine the frequency of occurrence of oppositional defiant behaviors in the general population with a view to establishing empirical frequency cutoffs for the evaluation of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). (2) To examine the effects of changes in the definition of ODD between DSM-III-R and DSM-IV. METHOD: The Great Smoky Mountains Study is a general population study of 9-, 11-, and 13-year-olds. Subjects and their parents were interviewed with the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment at baseline and again 1 year later. RESULTS: Ninetieth percentile frequency cutoffs for ODD symptoms are given. Although rates of ODD were little different between DSM-III-R and DSM-IV, fewer than half of those who met criteria by one or the other definition met criteria according to both. DSM-IV defined a more disturbed group of children than did DSM-III-R. Requiring only two or three ODD symptoms plus impairment identified children with substantial evidence of disturbance who did not otherwise meet criteria for any diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: The DSM-IV criteria represent an improvement over DSM-III-R. However, a reduction in the number of ODD symptoms required for diagnosis is indicated. Symptom frequency criteria for ODD symptoms are suggested for clinical use.

The Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment (CAPA).

OBJECTIVE: To describe the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment (CAPA). The base interview covers the age range from 9 to 17 years. METHOD: The interview glossary that provides detailed operational definitions of symptoms and severity ratings is described, and psychometric data and further developments of the interview are presented. RESULTS: Across 5,962 parent-child interviews, the core sections of the CAPA (psychiatric symptoms, functional impairment, demographics, family structure and functioning) took on average 59 minutes for children and 66 minutes for parents. Test-retest reliability for diagnoses ranged from kappa = 0.55 for conduct disorder (CD) to kappa = 1.0 for substance abuse/dependence. Validity as judged by 10 different criteria was good. Developments of the CAPA include a shorter "gateway" version using core symptoms as screen items, a Spanish version, and versions for twin studies, use with young adults (YAPA), and preschool-age children (PAPA). CONCLUSIONS: There is a place in both research and clinical settings for a rigorously operationalized interview (such as the CAPA) that focuses on ensuring that respondents understand what is being asked and on clearly defining levels of symptom severity and functional impairment.

Headaches and psychopathology in children and adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between chronic headaches and DSM-III-R-defined psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety disorders, conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, in a population-based sample of children and adolescents. METHOD: 1,013 children aged 9 to 15 years in the Great Smoky Mountains Study were evaluated annually over a 3-year period using the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment, a child and parent diagnostic psychiatric interview. Headaches that lasted at least 1 hour and occurred at least once a week during the 3 months prior to the interview were studied. RESULTS: Girls with depression and anxiety disorders had a significantly greater prevalence of headaches than girls without an internalizing disorder. This association was not found for boys. Conduct disorder was significantly associated with headaches in boys. Each of these associations was constant with age. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that a distinct gender difference exists between boys and girls in the associations between headaches and psychopathology. Carroll's theory of dysfunction in central pain regulation as an underlying cause of depression is discussed in relation to the proposed serotonergic dysregulation common to headaches, depression, anxiety, aggression, and pain.

Adolescent outcomes of childhood disorders: the consequences of severity and impairment.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the adolescent consequences of clinical and threshold-level psychiatric disorders, with and without significant functional impairment; to predict serious emotional disturbance (SED: clinical-level diagnosis with impairment); and to examine sex differences in the consequences of emotional and behavioral disorders. METHOD: 300 children aged 7 through 11 years were recruited from urban and suburban offices of a large health maintenance organization (HMO). Child and parent were interviewed at home using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC), version 1.3. Five to 7 years later, 278 (93%) of the sample were reinterviewed using the DISC-2.1. RESULTS: There was considerable continuity of psychopathology, particularly in children with functional impairment. Behavioral disorders at every level of severity predicted adolescent SED in both sexes. For emotional disorders, girls but not boys with childhood SED had significantly higher levels of adolescent SED. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood disorders falling below the level of severity required to meet criteria for treatment set by many HMOs or insurance companies nevertheless can carry a significantly increased risk for severe pathology years later. Functional impairment played an important role in the adolescent consequences of childhood psychiatric disorder.

How can epidemiology improve mental health services for children and adolescents?

Epidemiology, the study of patterns of disease distribution in time and space, can help to improve mental health services for children and adolescents by increasing understanding of the causes, development, and course of psychiatric disorders. For the purpose of service delivery, epidemiologic research on child psychopathology can provide information on need for services, availability of services, and effectiveness of services. For both scientific and planning purposes, epidemiologic research can inform us about (1) the developmental course of psychiatric disorders during childhood and adolescence, (2) the effect of psychiatric disorder on the course of normal childhood development, and (3) the effect of childhood development on the developmental course of psychiatric disorder. Information about prevalence and incidence is useful for planning primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention and treatment services. The same information is scientifically useful to the extent that it helps to answer questions about causation, course, and outcome. However, one aim of this paper is to show that epidemiology is about a great deal more than rates of disorder.

Implications of early versus late onset of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: The current diagnostic criteria for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) require that symptoms emerge prior to age 7 in order for a formal diagnosis to be considered. However, this age-of-onset criterion (AOC) has recently been questioned on both theoretical and empirical grounds. METHOD: Data from 4 annual waves of interviews with 9- to 16-year-olds from the Great Smoky Mountains Study were analyzed. RESULTS: Confirming previous studies, a majority of youths who had enough symptoms to meet criteria for ADHD were reported to have first exhibited these symptoms prior to age 7. Early onset of ADHD symptoms was associated with worse clinical outcomes in youths with the combined subtype of ADHD but not youths with the inattentive subtype. CONCLUSIONS: Findings support the continued inclusion of the AOC for the assessment of the combined but not necessarily the inattentive subtype of ADHD. Too few youths had a late onset of solely hyperactive-impulsive symptoms to evaluate the AOC for that group. However, regardless of the age of onset, youths who had elevated levels of ADHD symptoms were at increased risk for negative outcomes that may necessitate intervention.