Most information about the association between childhood maltreatment (CM) and subsequent psychiatric morbidity is based on retrospective self-reports. Findings from longitudinal studies using prospective reports to statutory agencies may be subject to attrition. We therefore compared the prevalence to age 30 of inpatient psychiatric diagnoses in those who experienced agency-reported CM with those of the rest of the cohort using administrative data to minimise loss to follow-up.

We used linked administrative data for two birth cohorts of all individuals born in Queensland, Australia in 1983 and 1984 (N = 83,050) and followed to age 30 years. This was the entire cohort aside from 312 people who died. Information on CM came from statewide child protection data and psychiatric diagnoses from all public and private hospital admissions in Queensland.

On adjusted analyses, the 4,703 participants (5.7%) who had been notified to the statewide child protection authority had three to eight times the odds of being admitted for any of the following psychiatric diagnoses by age 30 years old: schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, bipolar affective disorders, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD). There were similar findings for all the CM subtypes. Associations were especially strong for PTSD with between a seven – and nine-fold increase in the odds of admission.

This is one of the largest studies of the long-term effects of CM, covering an entire jurisdiction. All types of maltreatment are significantly related to a range of psychiatric disorders requiring hospitalisation. Early identification, intervention and providing appropriate support to individuals who have experienced CM may help mitigate the long-term consequences and reduce the risk of subsequent mental health problems.

Severe mental illness (SMI) is associated with significant morbidity. Frailty combines biological ageing, comorbidity and psychosocial factors and can predict adverse health outcomes. Emerging evidence indicates that frailty is higher in individuals with SMI than in the general population, although studies have been limited by sample size.

To describe the prevalence of frailty in people with SMI in a large cohort using three different frailty measures and examine the impact of demographic and sociodemographic variables.

The UK Biobank survey data, which included individuals aged 37–73 years from England, Scotland and Wales from 2006 to 2010, with linked in-patient hospital episodes, were utilised. The prevalence of frailty in individuals with and without SMI was assessed through three frailty measures: frailty index, physical frailty phenotype (PFP) and Hospital Frailty Risk Score (HFRS). Stratified analysis and dichotomous logistic regression were conducted.

A frailty index could be calculated for 99.5% of the 502 412 UK Biobank participants and demonstrated greater prevalence of frailty in women and an increase with age. The prevalence of frailty for those with SMI was 3.19% (95% CI 3.0–3.4), 4.2% (95% CI 3.8–4.7) and 18% (95% CI 15–23) using the frailty index, PFP and HFRS respectively. The prevalence ratio was between 3 and 18 times higher than in those without SMI.

As a measure, frailty captures the known increase in morbidity associated with SMI and may potentially allow for earlier identification of those who will benefit from targeted interventions.

Child maltreatment is a major public health issue worldwide. Retrospective studies show a strong association between self-reported child maltreatment and poor mental and physical health problems. Prospective studies that use reports to statutory agencies are less common, and comparisons of self- and agency-reported abuse in the same cohort even rarer.

This project will link state-wide administrative health data with prospective birth cohort data (N = 7223) from Brisbane in Queensland, Australia (including notifications to child protection agencies), to compare psychiatric outcomes in adulthood of agency- and self-reported child maltreatment while minimising attrition bias.

We will compare people with all forms of self- and agency-reported child maltreatment to the rest of the cohort, adjusting for confounding in logistic, Cox or multiple regression models based on whether outcomes are categorical or continuous. Outcomes will be hospital admissions, emergency department presentations or community/out-patient contacts for ICD-10 psychiatric diagnoses, suicidal ideation and self-harm as recorded in the relevant administrative databases.

This study will track the life course outcomes of adults after having experienced child maltreatment, and so provide an evidence-based understanding of the long-term health and behavioural consequences of child maltreatment. It will also consider health outcomes that are particularly relevant for adolescents and young adults, especially in relation to prospective notifications to statutory agencies. Additionally, it will identify the overlap and differences in outcome for two different sources of child maltreatment identification in the same cohort.