Incidence rates of treated mental disorders before and during the COVID-19 pandemic-a nationwide study comparing trends in the period 2015 to 2021.

BACKGROUND: There is a concern that exposure to psychosocial stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic may have led to a higher incidence of mental disorders. Thus, this study aimed to compare trends in incidence rates of depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and eating disorders in primary- and specialist health care before (2015-2019) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021). METHODS: We used aggregated population registry data to calculate incidence rates of mental disorders from primary- (The Norwegian Control and Payment of Health Reimbursements Registry (KUHR)) and specialist (The Norwegian Patient Registry (NPR)) health care. The analyses included all Norwegian residents aged 18-65 during the study period. Incident cases were defined as having no previous registration with the same mental disorder in KUHR (from 2006) or NPR (from 2008). We used linear prediction models and mean models to compare incidence rates and test trends before and during the pandemic. RESULTS: During the pandemic, the incidence rates among women were higher or as predicted for OCD in specialist health care and for eating disorders in both primary- and specialist health care. These findings were strongest among women aged 18-24 years. Incidence rates for depression and phobia/OCD among both genders in primary health care and phobic anxiety disorders among both genders in specialist health care were lower or as predicted. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic may have led to more women needing treatment for OCD and eating disorders in the Norwegian population. The decreased incidence rates for some disorders might indicate that some individuals either avoided seeking help or had improved mental health during the pandemic.

Contact with primary care physicians among adults with pre-existing common mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic: a registry-based study from Norway.

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals with pre-existing mental health problems may have experienced additional stress, which could worsen symptoms or trigger relapse. Thus, this study aimed to investigate if the number of consultations with general practitioners (GPs) among individuals with a pre-existing common mental health problem during the pandemic differed from pre-pandemic years. METHODS: Data on consultations with GPs among 18-65-year-olds registered with common mental health problems in 2017-2021 were retrieved from the Norwegian Control and Payment of Health Reimbursements Database. Based on data from the pre-pandemic years (2017-2019), we predicted the number of consultations per week for depression, anxiety disorder, phobia/obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and eating disorders during the pandemic (March 2020-December 2021) among individuals with pre-existing mental health problems. The forecasted and observed trends in GP consultations per week during the pandemic were stratified by diagnosis, gender, and age groups. RESULTS: The observed number of consultations for anxiety disorder, PTSD, and eating disorders were significantly higher than forecasted during extended periods of the two pandemic years. The differences were largest for PTSD (on average 37% higher in men and 47% higher in women during the pandemic), and for eating disorders among women (on average 87% higher during the pandemic). There were only minor differences between the predicted and observed number of consultations for depression and phobia/OCD. CONCLUSIONS: During the pandemic, individuals with a recent history of mental health problems were more likely to seek help for anxiety disorder, PTSD, and eating disorders, as compared to pre-pandemic years.

Maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy and child neurodevelopment up to eight years of age-Results from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study.

PURPOSE: Current knowledge of the effect of prenatal caffeine exposure on the child's neurodevelopment is contradictory. The current study aimed to study whether caffeine intake during pregnancy was associated with impaired child neurodevelopment up to 8 years of age. METHOD: A total of 64,189 full term pregnancies from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study were included. A validated food-frequency questionnaire administered at gestational week 22 was used to obtain information on maternal caffeine intake from different sources. To assess child neurodevelopment (behaviour, temperament, motor development, language difficulties) validated scales were used to identify difficulties within each domain at 6, 18, 36 months as well as 5 and 8 years of age. Adjusted logistic regression models and mixed linear models were used to evaluate neurodevelopmental problems associated with maternal caffeine intake. RESULTS: Prenatal caffeine exposure was not associated with a persistently increased risk for behaviour, temperament, motor or language problems in children born at full-term. Results were consistent throughout all follow-ups and for different sources of caffeine intake. There was a minor trend towards an association between consumption of caffeinated soft drinks and high activity level, but this association was not driven by caffeine. CONCLUSION: Low to moderate caffeine consumption during pregnancy was not associated with any persistent adverse effects concerning the child's neurodevelopment up to 8 years of age. However, a few previous studies indicate an association between high caffeine consumption and negative neurodevelopment outcomes.

Maternal Anxiety and Infants Birthweight and Length of Gestation. A sibling design.

BACKGROUND: The overall aim of this study is to examine the effect of prenatal maternal anxiety on birthweight and gestational age, controlling for shared family confounding using a sibling comparison design. METHODS: The data on 77,970 mothers and their 91,165 children from the population-based Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study and data on 12,480 pairs of siblings were used in this study. The mothers filled out questionnaires for each unique pregnancy, at 17th and 30th week in pregnancy. Gestational age and birth weight was extracted from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway (MBRN). Associations between prenatal maternal anxiety (measured across the 17th and 30th weeks) and birth outcomes (birthweight and gestational age) were examined using linear regression with adjustment for shared-family confounding in a sibling comparison design. RESULTS: In the population level analysis the maternal anxiety score during pregnancy was inversely associated with new-born's birthweight (Beta = -63.8 95% CI: -92.6, -35.0) and gestational age (Beta = -1.52, 95% CI: -2.15, -0.89) after adjustment for several covariates. The association of the maternal anxiety score with birthweight was no longer significant, but remained for maternal anxiety at 30th week with gestational age (Beta = -1.11, 95% CI: -1.82, -0.4) after further adjusting for the shared-family confounding in the sibling comparison design. CONCLUSION: No association was found for maternal prenatal anxiety with birth weight after multiple covariates and family environment were controlled. However, there was an association between prenatal maternal anxiety at 30th week only with gestational age, suggesting a timing effect for maternal anxiety in third trimester.

Gender gaps in preschool age: A study of behavior, neurodevelopment and pre-academic skills.

Background: Female educational advantage is evident from elementary school and throughout the education system. Understanding the gender differences that precede school entry might provide important insight as to why girls outperform boys later in their educational careers. Aims: The aim of this study was to explore gender differences in early literacy and numeracy skills, as well as a range of neurodevelopmental and behavioral domains between the age of five and six years. Methods: We used questionnaire data from preschool teachers in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study reported for 7467 children attending the final year in preschool, to explore gender differences and age patterns by fitting flexible regression models predicting pre-academic, behavioral and neurodevelopmental outcomes. Results: We found gender differences favoring girls for all outcomes except internalizing behavior. For neurodevelopment and behavior, differences in adjusted standardized scores ranged from 46% of a standard deviation (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.41, 0.50) in overall school readiness to 31% of a standard deviation difference in externalizing behavior problems (CI 0.21, 0.41). We found gender differences for all literacy skills in favor of girls. The gender gap in naming and adding numbers was small, but in favor of girls. Increasing age was associated with improved pre-academic skills and school readiness, as well as reduction of attention problems and language difficulties, the latter especially for boys. Conclusions: We conclude that gender differences favoring girls exist prior to school entry for a broad range of pre-academic, behavioral and neurodevelopmental skills relevant to school functioning.

Mechanisms linking parental educational attainment with child ADHD, depression, and academic problems: a study of extended families in The Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Low educational attainment in parents is associated with child psychopathology. It is not clear whether the associations are due to risk factors that family members share or due to effects of maternal or paternal education on the offspring. We investigate whether associations between maternal and paternal educational attainment and child symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, and academic problems are due to shared genetic factors, shared family environmental factors, or effects of the parental phenotype educational attainment itself. METHODS: This study is based on the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). The sample comprised 34,958 children (17,128 girls) in 28,372 extended-family units. We used data from related nuclear families linked by siblings in the parent generation. We applied a quasi-experimental extended children-of-twins design that included siblings in both generations and took account of nonrandom mating by including partners. Educational attainment was self-reported by mothers and fathers. Mothers reported children's symptoms of ADHD, symptoms of depression, and academic problems by questionnaire when the children were 8 years old. RESULTS: Children of lowly educated parents scored higher on all outcomes and had an approximate doubling of the risk of high symptom levels. The association between maternal and paternal educational attainment and child symptoms of ADHD and academic problems persisted after controlling for shared genetic and family environmental factors. Phenotypic transmission to depression was weaker and in the best fitting model fully explained by genetic factors shared by the two generations. CONCLUSIONS: Associations between educational attainment of mothers and fathers and child symptoms of ADHD and academic problems could not be ascribed to shared familial risk factors, whereas associations with symptoms of depression could. Parental education or resources and behaviors resulting from low education might be targets of interventions aimed at reducing symptoms of ADHD and academic problems.

In utero exposure to analgesic opioids and language development in 5-year old children.

PURPOSE: An increasing consumption of opioids has been reported. The primary aim of the present study was follow-up of neurocognitive development in children exposed to analgesic opioids during pregnancy, using three different validated instruments to assess language and communication development at 5 years. METHODS: The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) prospectively included pregnant women 1999 to 2008. Participants reported medication use at pregnancy week 17/18 and 30, and 6 months after birth. Children's language competence and communication skills at 5 years were reported by mothers on three different validated scales; The Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ), The Speech and Language Assessment Scale (SLAS) and The Twenty Statements about Language-Related Difficulties list (Language20Q). RESULTS: A total of 27 428 women with 33 407 singleton pregnancies were included. Use of analgesic opioids was reported in 584 pregnancies (1.7%). No associations between opioid use and lower language competence or communication skills were found. For ASQ, the OR of being in the lowest category vs the group with maximum mean score was 0.82 (95%CI 0.57, 1.17), for SLAS the OR of scoring worse than typical for age vs better than typical for age was 0.84 (0.61, 1.17) in children exposed to opioids in utero. For Language20Q using the best performance category as reference, the OR of scoring in the lower performance category was 0.57 (0.35, 0.91) with exposure to opioids. CONCLUSION: Use of analgesic opioids in pregnant women does not seem to negatively affect language development or communication skills in children at 5 years.

Estimating the Strength of Associations Between Prenatal Diet Quality and Child Developmental Outcomes: Results From a Large Prospective Pregnancy Cohort Study.

Our aim in this study was to estimate the strength of associations between prenatal diet quality and child behavioral, language, and motor functions in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (1999-2008). We created a prenatal diet quality index (PDQI) based on adherence to Norwegian dietary guidelines. Child outcomes were defined as sum scores on the Child Behavior Checklist, the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, and the Child Development Index at ages 18, 36, and 60 months. Using a longitudinal cohort study design and Bayesian hierarchical modeling, we estimated association strengths using inverse probability weighting to account for selection bias. In total, 27,529 mother-child pairs were eligible for inclusion. A 1-standard-deviation increase in PDQI score was associated with an absolute reduction in outcome sum scores of 0.02-0.21 and a 3%-7% relative decrease, with larger decreases seen for language and motor functions than for behavioral functions. PDQI scores were inversely associated with all child functions, but the estimated strength of each association was low. The results indicate that the observed variations in PDQI scores in an industrialized Western society may not profoundly influence the child functions studied.

Language delay and poorer school performance in children of mothers with inadequate iodine intake in pregnancy: results from follow-up at 8 years in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study.

PURPOSE: Some studies indicate that mild-to-moderate iodine deficiency in pregnant women might negatively affect offspring neurocognitive development, including previous results from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort study (MoBa) exploring maternally reported child development at age 3 years. The aim of this follow-up study was to investigate whether maternal iodine intake in pregnancy is associated with language and learning at 8 years of age. METHODS: The study sample includes 39,471 mother-child pairs participating in MoBa with available information from a validated food frequency questionnaire covering the first half of pregnancy and a questionnaire on child neurocognitive development at 8 years. Multivariable regression was used to explore associations of iodine intake from food and supplements with maternally reported child outcomes. RESULTS: Maternal iodine intake from food less than ~ 150 µg/day was associated with poorer child language skills (p-overall = 0.013), reading skills (p-overall = 0.019), and writing skills (p-overall = 0.004) as well as poorer school test result in reading (p < 0.001), and increased likelihood of the child receiving special educational services (p-overall = 0.042) (in non-iodine supplement users). Although significant, differences were generally small. Maternal use of iodine supplements in pregnancy was not significantly associated with any of the outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Low habitual iodine intake in pregnant women, i.e., lower than the recommended intake for non-pregnant women, was associated with mothers reporting poorer child language, school performance, and increased likelihood of special educational services. We found no indications of benefits or harm of using iodine-containing supplements in pregnancy. Initiating use in pregnancy might be too late.

Peer-Victimization of Young Children With Developmental and Behavioral Difficulties-A Population-Based Study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim is to investigate if young children with developmental and behavioral difficulties (DBDs) have greater risk of peer-victimization compared with typically developing (TD) children. METHOD: The sample was drawn from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). MoBa has collected population-based data on children's health and development for 114,500 children. We included children that were 5 years of age (n = 41,609). Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the effect of different DBDs and of co-occurring DBDs on peer-victimization compared with TD children. Categories of DBDs included autistic traits, emotional difficulties, behavioral difficulties, general learning difficulties, attention difficulties/impulsive behavior, motor development difficulties, language difficulties, and hearing and vision difficulties. Results were adjusted for socioeconomic status and the child's sex. RESULTS: Peer-victimization was 2.8% (933) among TD children, and 8.0% (615) among children with DBD. The highest risk of peer-victimization was found among children with autistic traits and children with five or more co-occurring DBDs (adjusted odds ratios [ORs] = 12.76; 95% confidence interval [CI] 8.64-18.84; p ≤ .001) and 17.37 (95% CI 12.15-24.82; p ≤ .001)], respectively. The lowest risk was found among children with hearing and vision difficulties and children with only one DBD [adjusted ORs = 1.98 (95% CI 1.71-2.29; p ≤ .001) and 1.95 (95% CI 1.70-2.22; p ≤ .001)]. CONCLUSION: Children with DBD have a substantially higher risk of peer-victimization compared with TD children. Peer-victimization varies with type of DBD and increases cumulatively by number of DBDs.

Suboptimal Maternal Iodine Intake Is Associated with Impaired Child Neurodevelopment at 3 Years of Age in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study.

Background: Severe iodine deficiency in pregnancy has major effects on child neurodevelopment, but less is known about the potential consequences of mild-to-moderate deficiency and iodine supplement use.Objective: We explored the associations between maternal iodine intake and child neurodevelopment at 3 y of age and the potential impact of maternal intake of iodine from supplements on the same outcomes.Methods: This population-based prospective observational study included 48,297 mother-child pairs recruited during pregnancy from 2002 to 2008. Maternal iodine intake was calculated based on a validated food-frequency questionnaire answered during midpregnancy that covered mean intake since the beginning of pregnancy. Associations between iodine intake and maternal-reported child language and motor development and behavior problems were explored by multivariable regression analyses.Results: In 33,047 mother-child pairs, excluding iodine supplement users, maternal iodine intake was associated with child language delay (P = 0.024), externalizing and internalizing behavior problems (both P < 0.001), and fine motor skills (P = 0.002) but not gross motor skills or the risk of not walking unaided at 17 mo of age. In 74% of the participants who had an iodine intake <160 µg/d (Estimated Average Requirement), suboptimal iodine intake was estimated to account for ∼5% (95% CI: -5%, 14%) of the cases of language delay, 16% (95% CI: 0%, 21%) of the cases of externalizing behavior problems >1.5 SD, and 16% (95% CI: 10%, 21%) of the cases of internalizing behavior problems >1.5 SD. In 48,297 mother-child pairs, including iodine supplement users, we found no protective effects of supplemental iodine during pregnancy on neurodevelopment.Conclusions: Maternal iodine intake below the Estimated Average Requirement during pregnancy was associated with symptoms of child language delay, behavior problems, and reduced fine motor skills at 3 y of age. The results showed no evidence of a protective effect of iodine supplementation during pregnancy.

Language competence and communication skills in 3-year-old children after prenatal exposure to analgesic opioids.

PURPOSE: An increasing consumption of opioids in the general population has been reported in several countries also among pregnant women. Limited information is available regarding the effect of prenatal exposure to analgesic opioids on long-term neurocognitive function in children. The primary aim of the study was to determine the association between prenatal exposure to analgesic opioids and language competence and communication skills at 3 years of age. METHODS: The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) prospectively included pregnant women during the period from 1999 to 2008. Participants reported medication use at pregnancy weeks 17-18 and 30, and 6 months after birth. Children's language competence and communication skills were reported by mothers on validated scales. RESULTS: A total of 45 211 women with 51 679 singleton pregnancies were included. The use of analgesic opioids was reported in 892 pregnancies (1.7%). In adjusted analyses, no association between opioid use and reduced language competence or communication skills was found, OR = 1.04 (95%CI: 0.89-1.22) and OR = 1.10 (95%CI: 0.95-1.27), respectively. Both pain and use of paracetamol were associated with a small reduction in communication skills. No such association was found for language competence. CONCLUSION: The use of analgesic opioids in pregnant women does not seem to affect language development or communication skills in children at 3 years of age. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Communication impairments in early term and late preterm children: a prospective cohort study following children to age 36 months.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the risk of communication impairments at age 18 and 36 months in children born early term (gestational weeks 37-38) and late preterm (gestational weeks 34-36). STUDY DESIGN: A total of 39 423 children and their mothers participated in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study. The sample included 7109 children (18%) born early term and 1673 (4.2%) born late preterm. Information on gestational age and prenatal and postnatal risk factors was obtained from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway. Information on communication impairments was assessed using standardized questionnaires filled out by the mothers. Stepwise logistic regression analysis was applied to explore the associations between early term/late preterm birth and communication impairments at age 18 and 36 months. RESULTS: Compared with children born at term, children born early term and late preterm had an increased risk of communication impairments at age 18 and 36 months. In early term, the aOR was 1.27 (95% CI, 1.12-1.44) at 18 months for communication impairments and 1.22 (95% CI, 1.07-1.39) at 36 months for expressive language impairments. In late preterm, the aOR was 1.74 (95% CI, 1.41-2.14) at 18 months and 1.37 (95% CI, 1.09-1.73) at 36 months. CONCLUSION: Not only children born late preterm, but also those born early term, are at increased risk for communication impairments. Given the large number of children potentially affected, this may result in significant health care costs.

COVID-19 Pandemic Quarantines and Mental Health Among Adolescents in Norway.

Importance: Adolescence is a critical developmental phase when mental health disorders, such as anxiety and depression, often emerge. Stringent public health measures and quarantine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic could threaten adolescent mental health. Objective: To investigate the associations of public health measures and quarantine experiences with mental distress among Norwegian adolescents and to explore if certain vulnerability factors moderate these associations. Design, Setting, and Participants: This longitudinal cohort study used repeated measures to capture variations in mental distress explained by the stringency of public health measures and quarantine experiences. Data from the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child cohort study were linked to national health registries and a national stringency index from April 1, 2020, to February 17, 2021. Participant included 7787 Norwegian adolescents aged 16 to 18 years. Data were analyzed from October 2022 to October 2023. Exposures: Stringency index of public health measures and quarantine experiences including recent quarantine (within the last 2 weeks) and quarantine frequency (cumulative number of quarantine episodes). Main Outcome and Measures: Mental distress was measured using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist across 6 data collection waves. Results: In this study, 7787 participants were included in the analysis (4473 female [57%]; mean [SD] age, 17.0 [0.6] years). Stringent public health measures (ß = 0.18; SE, 0.02; P < .001), recent quarantine (ß = 0.11; SE, 0.02; P < .001), and frequent quarantine (ß = 0.08; SE, 0.01; P < .001) were associated with higher levels of mental distress. The associations between public health measures and mental distress were not moderated by sex, age, prepandemic anxiety or depression, or genetic liability for mental health conditions. Frequency of quarantine appeared to be more strongly associated with mental distress among younger adolescents (ß = -0.04; SE, 0.01; P = .008), those with parents with lower education (ß = -0.04; SE, 0.01; P = .007), and those with lower genetic risk for depression (ß = -0.03; SE, 0.01; P = .006). Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, younger adolescents, those with parents with lower education, or those with low genetic liability for depression appeared more vulnerable when being quarantined several times. These findings emphasize the need for targeted support strategies to better protect adolescent well-being during future crises. Adolescents who experienced increased mental distress during the COVID-19 pandemic may be at risk of continued mental health problems and in need of ongoing support.

The role of early social play behaviors and language skills for shy children's later internalizing difficulties in school.

Research has demonstrated links from early childhood shyness to socioemotional problems later in life. This longitudinal study explored the role of early social play behaviors and language skills in the associations between childhood shyness and later internalizing and language difficulties in school. Participants were N = 7,447 children (50.1% girls) from the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Latent direct, indirect, and interaction path analyses were performed within a structural equation framework. Results showed that mother-rated childhood shyness from age 18 months to age five years was associated with mother-rated internalizing difficulties and language problems at age eight years. Lower levels of teacher-reported social play behaviors and poorer language skills in preschool increased the risk of later anxiety problems among shy children, whereas higher levels of language competencies and social play behaviors buffered against later anxiety problems. The study identifies some of the early risk and protective factors that may influence shy children's socio-emotional functioning and adjustment.

Mental Distress Among Norwegian Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Predictors in Initial Response and Subsequent Trajectories.

Objectives: To identify factors associated with change in mental distress at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, relative to pre-pandemic levels, and with changes during the following 1.5 years. Methods: The prospective Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study collected eight waves of data during the pandemic (March 2020-September 2021) in 105,972 adult participants used for this analyses. A piecewise latent growth model was fitted to identify initial level and longitudinal changes in mental distress. Results: Mental distress peaked at the beginning of the pandemic. Factors associated with initial increases were: medical conditions, living alone, history of psychiatric disorders, lower education, female sex, younger age, and obesity. Being quarantined or infected with SARS-CoV-2 were associated with increasing distress while being vaccinated was associated with reduced mental distress. Conclusion: Having a chronic disease and being quarantined or infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus were associated with more mental distress during the pandemic. This knowledge is important for planning interventions to support individuals during future pandemics and other societal crises.

Intergenerational effects of parental educational attainment on parenting and childhood educational outcomes: Evidence from MoBa using within-family Mendelian randomization.

The intergenerational transmission of educational attainment from parents to their children is one of the most important and studied relationships in social science. Longitudinal studies have found strong associations between parents' and their children's educational outcomes, which could be due to the effects of parents. Here we provide new evidence about whether parents' educational attainment affects their parenting behaviours and children's early educational outcomes using within-family Mendelian randomization and data from 40,879 genotyped parent-child trios from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort (MoBa) study. We found evidence suggesting that parents' educational attainment affects their children's educational outcomes from age 5 to 14. More studies are needed to provide more samples of parent-child trios and assess the potential consequences of selection bias and grandparental effects.

Addressing Global Environmental Challenges to Mental Health Using Population Neuroscience: A Review.

Importance: Climate change, pollution, urbanization, socioeconomic inequality, and psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have caused massive changes in environmental conditions that affect brain health during the life span, both on a population level as well as on the level of the individual. How these environmental factors influence the brain, behavior, and mental illness is not well known. Observations: A research strategy enabling population neuroscience to contribute to identify brain mechanisms underlying environment-related mental illness by leveraging innovative enrichment tools for data federation, geospatial observation, climate and pollution measures, digital health, and novel data integration techniques is described. This strategy can inform innovative treatments that target causal cognitive and molecular mechanisms of mental illness related to the environment. An example is presented of the environMENTAL Project that is leveraging federated cohort data of over 1.5 million European citizens and patients enriched with deep phenotyping data from large-scale behavioral neuroimaging cohorts to identify brain mechanisms related to environmental adversity underlying symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, and substance misuse. Conclusions and Relevance: This research will lead to the development of objective biomarkers and evidence-based interventions that will significantly improve outcomes of environment-related mental illness.

Associations between poor gross and fine motor skills in pre-school and peer victimization concurrently and longitudinally with follow-up in school age - results from a population-based study.

BACKGROUND: Children with poor motor skills are at increased risk of peer victimization. However, it is unclear whether poor gross and fine motor skills are differently linked to peer victimization among pre-school and schoolchildren. AIMS: To investigate associations between poor gross and fine motor skills measured in pre-school and the associations to peer victimization measured concurrently and in school age. SAMPLE: Data from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), and the Medical Birth Registry of Norway were used. Participants with complete questionnaires at 3, 5, and 8 years (n = 23 215) were included. METHODS: A longitudinal design and an autoregressive cross-lagged model were used to investigate if poor gross and fine motor skills at 3 and 5 years predicted peer victimization at 5 and 8 years. Because emotional difficulties are associated with both motor skills and peer victimization, the results were adjusted for emotional difficulties. RESULTS: Only poor fine motor skills at 3 years had a significant association to peer victimization at 5 years. Poor gross motor skills at 5 years had a stronger association to peer victimization measured concurrently compared to poor fine motor skills, and only poor fine motor skills at 5 years was significantly linked to peer victimization at 8 years. No gender difference was found between these paths. CONCLUSIONS: Teachers and parents should be aware that motor skills predict peer victimization, and that poor gross and fine motor skills have different associations to peer victimization measured at different ages.