Obstetric complications and subsequent risk of mood disorders for offspring in adulthood: a comprehensive overview.

Background: A number of studies reported obstetric complications (OCs) to be a risk factor for the development of psychiatric conditions in the adulthood, including mood disorders.Aim: The aim of this study was to review the literature about the link between OCs during the perinatal period (items of Lewis-Murray scale) and the future risk of developing a mood disorder in adulthood, such as the major depressive disorder (MDD) or the bipolar disorder (BD).Methods: A research in the main database sources has been conducted to obtain an overview of the association mentioned above.Results: Few studies have investigated the role of OCs in the development of mood disorders in adulthood. The most robust evidence is that low birth weight (LBW) and preterm birth may be risk factors for the development of MDD in the future, even if some of the available data come from studies with small sample sizes or a retrospective design.Conclusion: OCs may confer a risk of developing mood disorders in adulthood. Future research should confirm these preliminary findings and clarify if other obstetric or neonatal complications (e.g. cyanosis or newborn epileptic seizures) may have a role in the future onset of mood disorders.

Factors associated with referrals to high security forensic services among people with severe mental illness and receiving inpatient care in prison.

BACKGROUND: Prison mental health care is a significant topic which has been already studied and described in literature, particularly because of important implications both in the prison and in the health care system. It's not uncommon that inmates suffering from mental disorders are referred to high security forensic services (HSFS) but, to date, studies assessing factors associated with relevant referrals to these services are missing. So, the aim of our study is to investigate socio-demographic, criminological, psychopathological and toxicological variables among those who were referred to HSFS as compared to their non-referred counterpart. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study recruiting 159 subjects receiving prison inpatient care in an Italian jail, between January 2010 and August 2015. No subjects were excluded from the study. The mean age was 39. RESULTS: About half of included prisoners suffered from personality disorder while one-third from psychotic disorders. >60% of the subjects had comorbid substance use disorders. The odds of being referred to HSFS were related to previous admission (odds ratio [OR] = 5.34, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.66-17.16), diagnosis of psychosis (OR = 2.79, 95% CI 1.11-7.04) and cannabis use disorder (OR = 2.68, 95% CI 1.14-6.28). Personality disorder was inversely associated to the referral to forensic facilities (OR = 0.37, 95% CI 0.14-0.97). CONCLUSIONS: Mental health services should improve preventive measures for vulnerable prisoners in order to reduce criminal recidivism and forensic readmission.

Recent suicide attempts and serum lipid profile in subjects with mental disorders: A cross-sectional study.

Peripheral biomarkers for suicide have been studied generating mixed results. We investigated the association between serum lipid levels and suicide attempts in subjects with different mental disorders. We conducted a cross-sectional study, including 593 inpatients with schizophrenia spectrum, bipolar, major depressive, and personality disorders, hypothesizing that subjects with lower total cholesterol levels would have higher rates of recent suicide attempts. Contrary to our hypothesis, individuals with lower total cholesterol levels (<160 mg/dL) showed lower rates also of suicide attempts (OR adjusted for age and gender: 0.56; one-tailed p = 0.03). Further logistic regression models failed to estimate any association of continuous levels between total/low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol/ triglycerides, and suicide attempts, also considering diagnosis and suicide methods. An association between lipid profile and suicide attempts in subjects with mental disorders is not fully supported. Further research is needed to clarify the role of biomarkers in suicidal behaviors.

Antioxidant uric acid in treated and untreated subjects with major depressive disorder: a meta-analysis and meta-regression.

Pathophysiological mechanisms of major depressive disorder (MDD) seem to be associated with oxidative stress pathways and altered purinergic metabolism. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate if subjects with MDD might have reduced levels of antioxidant uric acid, considering also potential influence of antidepressant treatment. We searched the main Electronic Databases, identifying 14 studies that met our inclusion criteria. Meta-analyses were carried out generating pooled Hedges' g and mean differences (MDs), using random-effects models. Heterogeneity across studies and risk of publication bias were estimated using standard methods. Relevant sensitivity and meta-regression analyses were conducted. Subjects with MDD had levels of uric acid lower than healthy controls (Hedges' g = -0.30; p = 0.003). Overall between-study heterogeneity was high (I 2 = 76.3%). The effect was significant among studies including drug naïve/free MDD individuals (Hedges' g = -0.55; p = 0.023), but not among those involving treated subjects (Hedges' g = -0.15; p = 0.062). Relevant quality- and heterogeneity-based sensitivity analyses, as well as meta-regressions, confirmed these findings. In addition, uric acid levels significantly, though inconsistently (I 2 = 79.2%), increased after treatment (MD = +0.71 mg/dL; p < 0.001), regardless of follow-up duration (p = 0.518). Our meta-analysis shows that subjects with MDD have lower levels of uric acid. Since antidepressant treatment seems to influence this association, our findings support the hypothesis that uric acid levels may represent a state marker of MDD. Nevertheless, the potential role of additional factors that might clarify the nature of this association deserves further research.