Sustained attention is integral to goal-directed tasks in everyday life. It is a demanding and effortful process prone to failure. Deficits are particularly prevalent in mood disorders. However, conventional methods of assessment, rooted in overall measures of performance, neglect the nuanced temporal dimensions inherent in sustained attention, necessitating alternative analytical approaches.

This study investigated sustained attention deficits and temporal patterns of attentional fluctuation in a large clinical cohort of patients with bipolar depression (BPd, n = 33), bipolar euthymia (BPe, n = 84), major depression (MDd, n = 38) and controls (HC, n = 138) using a continuous performance task (CPT). Longitudinal and spectral analyses were employed to examine trial-level reaction time (RT) data.

Longitudinal analysis revealed a significant worsening of performance over time (vigilance decrement) in BPd, whilst spectral analysis unveiled attentional fluctuations concentrated in the frequency range of 0.077 Hz (1/12.90 s)–0.049 Hz (1/20.24 s), with BPd and MDd demonstrating greater spectral power compared to BPe and controls.

Although speculative, the increased variability in this frequency range may have an association with the dysfunctional activity of the Default Mode Network, which has been shown to oscillate at a similar timescale. These findings underscore the importance of considering the temporal dimensions of sustained attention and show the potential of spectral analysis of RT in future clinical research.

There are ethnic differences, including differences related to indigeneity, in the incidence of first episode psychosis (FEP) and pathways into care, but research on ethnic disparities in outcomes following FEP is limited.

In this study we examined social and health outcomes following FEP diagnosis for a cohort of Māori (Indigenous people of New Zealand) and non-Māori (non-Indigenous) young people. We have focused on understanding the opportunities for better outcomes for Māori by examining the relative advantage of non-Māori with FEP.

Statistics New Zealand's Integrated Data Infrastructure was accessed to describe mental health and social service interactions and outcomes for a retrospective FEP cohort comprising 918 young Māori and 1275 non-Māori aged 13 to 25 at diagnosis. Logistic regression models were used to examine whether social outcomes including employment, benefit receipt, education and justice involvement in year 5 differed by indigeneity.

Non-Māori young people were more likely than Māori to have positive outcomes in the fifth year after FEP diagnosis, including higher levels of employment and income, and lower rates of benefit receipt and criminal justice system involvement. These patterns were seen across diagnostic groups, and for both those receiving ongoing mental healthcare and those who were not.

Non-Māori experience relative advantage in outcomes 5 years after FEP diagnosis. Indigenous-based social disparities following FEP urgently require a response from the health, education, employment, justice and political systems to avoid perpetuating these inequities, alongside efforts to address the disadvantages faced by all young people with FEP.

On 15 March 2019, a white supremacist terrorist attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Fifty-one people were killed and another 40 sustained non-fatal gunshot injuries.

To examine the mental health of the Muslim community, and individual and exposure-related factors associated with mental health outcomes.

This is the baseline analysis of a longitudinal study of adults from the Muslim community interviewed 11–32 months after the shootings. It included a diagnostic interview (MINI), measures of sociodemographic factors, prior mental health, prior traumatic events, exposure in the attacks, discrimination, life stressors, social support and religious coping. Logistic regression models examined associations with mental health outcomes.

The sample comprised 189 participants (mean age 41 (s.d. = 13); 60% female), and included: bereaved, 17% (n = 32); injured survivors 12% (n = 22); non-injured survivors, 19% (n = 36); family members of survivors, 35% (n = 67); and community members without the above exposures, 39% (n = 74). Overall, 61% had at least one mental disorder since the attacks. Those bereaved (P < 0.01, odds ratio 4.28, 95% CI 1.75–10.49) and survivors, whether injured (P < 0.001, odds ratio 18.08, 95% CI 4.70–69.60) or not (P < 0.01, odds ratio 5.26, 95% CI 1.99–13.89), had greater odds of post-traumatic stress disorder. Those bereaved (P < 0.001, odds ratio 5.79, 95% CI 2.49–13.46) or injured (P = 0.04, odds ratio 4.43, 95% CI 1.07–18.28) had greater odds of depression.

Despite unique features of this attack on a Muslim population, findings accord with previous studies. They suggest generalisability of psychopathology after terror attacks, and that being bereaved or directly experiencing such events is associated with adverse mental health outcomes.

The study is registered on the Australian NZ Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12620000909921).

People with psychosis experience worse cardiometabolic health than the same-aged general population. In New Zealand, Indigenous Māori experiencing psychosis have greater risk of cardiometabolic and other physical health problems.

To identify a cohort of adults accessing secondary mental health and addiction services in New Zealand, with a previous psychosis diagnosis as of 1 January 2018, and compare odds of hospital admission outcomes, mortality and receipt of cardiometabolic blood screening between Māori and non-Māori in the following 2 years.

Crude and adjusted logistic regression models compared odds of hospital admission outcomes, mortality and receipt of cardiometabolic blood screening (lipids and haemoglobin A1c) between Māori and non-Māori, occurring between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2019.

A cohort (N = 21 214) of Māori (n = 7274) and non-Māori (n = 13 940) was identified. Māori had higher adjusted risk of mortality (odds ratio 1.26, 95% CI 1.03–1.54), and hospital admission with diabetes (odds ratio 1.64, 95% CI 1.43–1.87), cardiovascular disease (odds ratio 1.54, 95% CI 1.25–1.88) and any physical health condition (odds ratio 1.07, 95% CI 1.00–1.15) than non-Māori. Around a third of people did not receive recommended cardiometabolic blood screening, with no difference between Māori and non-Māori after covariate adjustment.

Māori experiencing psychosis are more likely to die and be admitted to hospital with cardiovascular disease or diabetes than non-Māori. Because of the higher cardiometabolic risk borne by Māori, it is suggested that cardiometabolic screening shortfalls will lead to worsening physical health inequities for Māori experiencing psychosis.