Patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) exhibit smaller regional brain volumes in commonly reported regions including the amygdala and hippocampus, regions associated with fear and memory processing. In the current study, we have conducted a voxel-based morphometry (VBM) meta-analysis using whole-brain statistical maps with neuroimaging data from the ENIGMA-PGC PTSD working group.

T1-weighted structural neuroimaging scans from 36 cohorts (PTSD n = 1309; controls n = 2198) were processed using a standardized VBM pipeline (ENIGMA-VBM tool). We meta-analyzed the resulting statistical maps for voxel-wise differences in gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volumes between PTSD patients and controls, performed subgroup analyses considering the trauma exposure of the controls, and examined associations between regional brain volumes and clinical variables including PTSD (CAPS-4/5, PCL-5) and depression severity (BDI-II, PHQ-9).

PTSD patients exhibited smaller GM volumes across the frontal and temporal lobes, and cerebellum, with the most significant effect in the left cerebellum (Hedges’ g = 0.22, pcorrected = .001), and smaller cerebellar WM volume (peak Hedges’ g = 0.14, pcorrected = .008). We observed similar regional differences when comparing patients to trauma-exposed controls, suggesting these structural abnormalities may be specific to PTSD. Regression analyses revealed PTSD severity was negatively associated with GM volumes within the cerebellum (pcorrected = .003), while depression severity was negatively associated with GM volumes within the cerebellum and superior frontal gyrus in patients (pcorrected = .001).

PTSD patients exhibited widespread, regional differences in brain volumes where greater regional deficits appeared to reflect more severe symptoms. Our findings add to the growing literature implicating the cerebellum in PTSD psychopathology.

The quality of news reports about suicide can influence suicide rates. Although many researchers have aimed to assess the general safety of news reporting in terms of adherence to responsible media guidelines, none have focused on major US cable networks, a key source of public information in North America and beyond.

To characterise and compare suicide-related reporting by major US cable television news networks across the ideological spectrum.

We searched a news archive (Factiva) for suicide-related transcripts from ‘the big three’ US cable television news networks (CNN, Fox News and MSNBC) over an 11-year inclusion interval (2012–2022). We included and coded segments with a major focus on suicide (death, attempt and/or thoughts) for general content, putatively harmful and protective characteristics and overarching narratives. We used chi-square tests to compare these variables across networks.

We identified 612 unique suicide-related segments (CNN, 398; Fox News, 119; MSNBC, 95). Across all networks, these segments tended to focus on suicide death (72–89%) and presented stories about specific individuals (61–87%). Multiple putatively harmful characteristics were evident in segments across networks, including mention of a suicide method (42–52%) – with hanging (15–30%) and firearm use (12–20%) the most commonly mentioned – and stigmatising language (39–43%). Only 15 segments (2%) presented a story of survival.

Coverage of suicide stories by major US cable news networks was often inconsistent with responsible reporting guidelines. Further engagement with networks and journalists is thus warranted.

It remains unclear which individuals with subthreshold depression benefit most from psychological intervention, and what long-term effects this has on symptom deterioration, response and remission.

To synthesise psychological intervention benefits in adults with subthreshold depression up to 2 years, and explore participant-level effect-modifiers.

Randomised trials comparing psychological intervention with inactive control were identified via systematic search. Authors were contacted to obtain individual participant data (IPD), analysed using Bayesian one-stage meta-analysis. Treatment–covariate interactions were added to examine moderators. Hierarchical-additive models were used to explore treatment benefits conditional on baseline Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) values.

IPD of 10 671 individuals (50 studies) could be included. We found significant effects on depressive symptom severity up to 12 months (standardised mean-difference [s.m.d.] = −0.48 to −0.27). Effects could not be ascertained up to 24 months (s.m.d. = −0.18). Similar findings emerged for 50% symptom reduction (relative risk = 1.27–2.79), reliable improvement (relative risk = 1.38–3.17), deterioration (relative risk = 0.67–0.54) and close-to-symptom-free status (relative risk = 1.41–2.80). Among participant-level moderators, only initial depression and anxiety severity were highly credible (P > 0.99). Predicted treatment benefits decreased with lower symptom severity but remained minimally important even for very mild symptoms (s.m.d. = −0.33 for PHQ-9 = 5).

Psychological intervention reduces the symptom burden in individuals with subthreshold depression up to 1 year, and protects against symptom deterioration. Benefits up to 2 years are less certain. We find strong support for intervention in subthreshold depression, particularly with PHQ-9 scores ≥ 10. For very mild symptoms, scalable treatments could be an attractive option.

Many studies have highlighted the detrimental effect of childhood maltreatment (CM) on depression severity and the course of illness in major depressive disorder (MDD). Yet our understanding of how CM influences the dynamic symptom change throughout a patient’s trajectory remains limited. Hence, we investigated the impact of CM on depression severity in MDD with a focus on various treatment phases during inpatient treatment and after discharge (1 or 2 years later) and validated findings in a real-world setting.

We used longitudinal data from a cohort study sample (n = 567) and a clinical routine sample (n = 438). CM was measured with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), and depression severity was assessed using Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI). The long-term clinical trajectory was assessed using the Life Chart Interview.

Our analyses revealed that CM significantly increased depression severity before, during, and after inpatient therapy in both samples. Although CM was associated with higher depression severity at the beginning of inpatient treatment and lower remission rates upon discharge, no discernible impact of CM was evident on the relative change in symptoms over time during inpatient treatment. CM consistently predicted higher relapse rates and lower rates of full remission after discharge during long-term follow-up in both samples.

Our findings affirm the link between CM and the development of more severe and persistent clinical trajectories within real-world clinical settings. Furthermore, conventional psychiatric treatments may not lead to comparable outcomes for individuals with a history of CM, underscoring the necessity for tailored therapeutic interventions.

The prevalence of alcohol use disorder among older adults is increasing, with this population being particularly vulnerable to alcohol’s detrimental effects. While knowledge of preventative factors is scarce, physical activity has emerged as a potential modifiable protective factor. This study aimed to examine associations between alcohol consumption and physical activity in a large-scale, multi-national prospective study of the older adult population.

Longitudinal data from the SHARE study on physical activity, alcohol consumption, demographic, socioeconomic, and health variables, were analyzed in older adults. Individual-level data were examined using logistic regression models. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal models were calculated to account for potential latency in the association between physical activity and alcohol consumption.

The study included 3133 participants from 13 countries. Higher physical activity levels were significantly associated with higher alcohol consumption in cross-sectional (p = 0.0004) and longitudinal analyses (p = 0.0045) over a median follow-up of 6 years. While the presence of depressive symptoms and higher educational attainment were associated with higher alcohol consumption, female sex and persons with lower perceived health showed lower frequency of alcohol consumption. Additionally, the country of residence also proved to be a relevant factor for alcohol consumption.

Higher levels of physical activity showed an association with higher alcohol consumption in older adults. Future research should investigate whether this association is causal and underpinned by neurobiological, social, or methodological factors.

The Personalized Advantage Index (PAI) shows promise as a method for identifying the most effective treatment for individual patients. Previous studies have demonstrated its utility in retrospective evaluations across various settings. In this study, we explored the effect of different methodological choices in predictive modelling underlying the PAI.

Our approach involved a two-step procedure. First, we conducted a review of prior studies utilizing the PAI, evaluating each study using the Prediction model study Risk Of Bias Assessment Tool (PROBAST). We specifically assessed whether the studies adhered to two standards of predictive modeling: refraining from using leave-one-out cross-validation (LOO CV) and preventing data leakage. Second, we examined the impact of deviating from these methodological standards in real data. We employed both a traditional approach violating these standards and an advanced approach implementing them in two large-scale datasets, PANIC-net (n = 261) and Protect-AD (n = 614).

The PROBAST-rating revealed a substantial risk of bias across studies, primarily due to inappropriate methodological choices. Most studies did not adhere to the examined prediction modeling standards, employing LOO CV and allowing data leakage. The comparison between the traditional and advanced approach revealed that ignoring these standards could systematically overestimate the utility of the PAI.

Our study cautions that violating standards in predictive modeling may strongly influence the evaluation of the PAI's utility, possibly leading to false positive results. To support an unbiased evaluation, crucial for potential clinical application, we provide a low-bias, openly accessible, and meticulously annotated script implementing the PAI.

Individuals at risk for bipolar disorder (BD) have a wide range of genetic and non-genetic risk factors, like a positive family history of BD or (sub)threshold affective symptoms. Yet, it is unclear whether these individuals at risk and those diagnosed with BD share similar gray matter brain alterations.

In 410 male and female participants aged 17–35 years, we compared gray matter volume (3T MRI) between individuals at risk for BD (as assessed using the EPIbipolar scale; n = 208), patients with a DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of BD (n = 87), and healthy controls (n = 115) using voxel-based morphometry in SPM12/CAT12. We applied conjunction analyses to identify similarities in gray matter volume alterations in individuals at risk and BD patients, relative to healthy controls. We also performed exploratory whole-brain analyses to identify differences in gray matter volume among groups. ComBat was used to harmonize imaging data from seven sites.

Both individuals at risk and BD patients showed larger volumes in the right putamen than healthy controls. Furthermore, individuals at risk had smaller volumes in the right inferior occipital gyrus, and BD patients had larger volumes in the left precuneus, compared to healthy controls. These findings were independent of course of illness (number of lifetime manic and depressive episodes, number of hospitalizations), comorbid diagnoses (major depressive disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety disorder, eating disorder), familial risk, current disease severity (global functioning, remission status), and current medication intake.

Our findings indicate that alterations in the right putamen might constitute a vulnerability marker for BD.

An accurate accounting of prior sport-related concussion (SRC) is critical to optimizing the clinical care of athletes with SRC. Yet, obtaining such a history via medical records or lifetime monitoring is often not feasible necessitating the use of self-report histories. The primary objective of the current project is to determine the degree to which athletes consistently report their SRC history on serial assessments throughout their collegiate athletic career.

Data were obtained from the NCAA-DoD CARE Consortium and included 1621 athletes (914 male) from a single Division 1 university who participated in athletics during the 2014-2017 academic years. From this initial cohort, 752 athletes completed a second-year assessment and 332 completed a third-year assessment. Yearly assessments included a brief self-report survey that queried SRC history of the previous year. Consistency of self-reported SRC history was defined as reporting the same number of SRC on subsequent yearly evaluation as had been reported the previous year.

For every year of participation, the number of SRC reported on the baseline exam (Reported) and the number of SRC recorded by athletes and medical staff during the ensuing season (Recorded) were tabulated. In a subsequent year, the expected number of SRC (Expected) was computed as the sum of Reported and Recorded. For participation years in which Expected could be computed, the reporting deviation (RepDev) gives the difference between the number of SRCs which were expected to be reported at a baseline exam based on previous participation year data and the number of SRCs which was actually reported by the athlete or medical record during the baseline exam. The reporting deviation was computed only for those SRC that occurred while the participant was enrolled in the current study (RepDevSO). Oneway intraclass correlations (ICC) were computed between the expected and reported numbers of SRC.

341 athletes had a history of at least one SRC and 206 of those (60.4%) had a RepDev of 0. The overall ICC for RepDev was 0.761 (95% CI 0.73-0.79). The presence of depression (ICC 0.87, 95% CI 0.79-0.92) and loss of consciousness (ICC 0.80, 95% CI 0.720.86) were associated with higher ICCs compared to athletes without these variables. Female athletes demonstrated higher self-report consistency (ICC 0.82, 95% CI 0.79-0.85) compared to male athletes (ICC 0.72, 95% CI 0.68-0.76). Differences in the classification of RepDev according to sex and sport were found to be significant (x2=77.6, df=56, p=0.03). The sports with the highest consistency were Women’s Tennis, Men’s Diving, and Men’s Tennis with 100% consistency between academic years. Sports with the lowest consistency were Women’s Gymnastics (69%), Men’s Lacrosse (70%), and Football (72%). 96 athletes had at least one study-only SRC in the previous year and 69 of those (71.9%) had a RepDevSO of 0 (ICC 0.673, 95% CI 0.64-0.71).

Approximately 40% of athletes do not consistently report their SRC history, potentially further complicating the clinical management of SRC. These findings encourage clinicians to be aware of factors which could influence the reliability of self-reported SRC history.

Coercive measures such as involuntary psychiatric admission are considered a last resort in the treatment of people with psychiatric disorders. So far, numerous factors have been identified that influence their use. However, the link between a pandemic – in particular, restrictions such as lockdowns – and the use of involuntary psychiatric admission is unclear.

To examine the association between COVID-19 lockdowns and involuntary psychiatric admissions in Austria.

This retrospective exploratory study assessed all involuntary psychiatric admissions and use of mechanical restraint in Austria, except for the federal state of Vorarlberg, between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2020. Descriptive statistics and regression models were used.

During the 3-year study period, 40 012 individuals (45.9% females, mean age 51.3 years) had 66 124 involuntary psychiatric admissions for an average of 10.9 days. Mechanical restraint was used during 33.9% of these admissions. In weeks of nationwide COVID-19 lockdowns (2020 v. 2018/2019), involuntary psychiatric admissions were significantly fewer (odds ratio = 0.93, P = 0.0001) but longer (11.6 (s.d.: 16) v. 10.9 (s.d.: 15.8) days). The likelihood of involuntary admission during lockdowns was associated with year (2020 v. 2018–2019; adjusted odds ratio = 0.92; P = 0.0002) but not with sex (P = 0.814), age (P = 0.310), use of mechanical restraint (P = 0.653) or type of ward (P = 0.843).

Restrictions such as lockdowns affect coercive measures and resulted in fewer but longer involuntary psychiatric admissions during weeks of lockdown in Austria. These results strengthen previous findings that showed the dependence of coercive measures on external factors, highlighting the need to further clarify causality and desired prevention effects when using coercive measures.