Mental health at population level during an economic recession in Finland

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of mental disorder and associated factors during an economic recession. Random samples of Finnish general population were collected in 3 consecutive years, 1993-95. The prevalence of mental disorders was assessed by means of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). The prevalence of mental disorders varied among Finnish men from 15.6% to 19.2% and among women from 21 to 24.5%. Mental disorder was more common among women than among men in every study year. Mental disorder was more common among the unemployed than among other respondents both in women and men in every year. Subjective poor health, suicidal thoughts and poor economic situation were constantly associated with mental disorder in both sexes every year. Using logistic regression analyses, problems with a partner, uncertain future orientation and use of psychoactive drugs, in particular, were found to be fairly permanent independent risk factors in relation to mental disorder. As studied by gender no major changes occurred in the mental health status of Finns during economic recession, although in many specific groups mental disorder was markedly more common than in the general population.     

Recorded psychiatric comorbidity with bipolar disorder – A Finnish hospital discharge register study

Bipolar disorder is frequently connected to other psychiatric disorders. On the basis of The National Hospital Discharge Register in Finland, we studied the recorded prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity among bipolar inpatients by clinicians, and the factors that were associated with it. Of the 2687 hospital stays in 1998, 82% had no other recorded psychiatric diagnosis except an episode of bipolar disorder. Psychiatric comorbidity was recorded in 18% of hospital stays, of which 20% had two comorbid psychiatric diagnoses. Substance-related disorders (11%) were the most commonly recorded comorbid disorders. Personality disorders were recorded in 6%, and anxiety disorder in 1% of the hospital stays. These figures should be considered far below the expected ones. Recorded comorbidity was associated with the type of episode. Comorbidity in bipolar disorder in psychiatric hospitals in Finland seems to go greatly undetected and may have a deteriorating impact on the course of the illness.     

Impact of multiple traumatic experiences on the persistence of depressive symptoms – a population-based study

The objective of this population-based study was to determine whether traumatic experiences in general, and multiple traumatic experiences in particular, are associated with persistent self-rated depressive symptoms in adult Finnish subjects over 2?years of follow-up. The study sample included 1405 subjects aged 25–64?years. Subjects (n=217) who were depressed both at baseline in 1999 and on follow-up 2?years later in 2001 (having persistent depressive symptoms) were compared with subjects (n=987) having no depressive symptoms either at baseline or on follow-up. All six categories of traumatic experiences (wartime experience, natural disaster, life-threatening accident, victim of violent crime, domestic violence and childhood sexual abuse) pertained to the respondents’ whole life span. Odds ratios, adjusted for significant covariates, were obtained from multiple logistic regression models that estimated the likelihood of persistent depressive symptoms in different trauma categories. Persistent depressive symptoms had a significant positive graded relationship with the number of traumatic experiences. The adjusted odds of persistent depression was 6.05 (95% CI 1.76–20.7) for men and 6.99 (95% CI 2.69–18.2) for women in those with three or more traumatic experiences compared with those with no such experiences at all. Multiple traumatic experiences substantially increase the likelihood of persistent depressive symptoms. Mental health intervention, as early as possible, may serve to prevent the chronicity of depressive reactions among victims of multiple traumas.     

Prospective relations between alexithymia,substance use and depression: findings from a National Birth Cohort

Abstract

Purpose: This study examined a developmental model that links affect-regulation difficulties in childhood with three dimensions of alexithymia in adolescence (difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, and externally oriented thinking) and substance use and depression in adulthood, while accounting for cumulative contextual risk in childhood, and testing potential gender moderation.

Methods: Multiple group path analyses were conducted using data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (N?=?6963). Analyses used data collected during prenatal/birth, childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood periods.

Results: Our examination of early precursors for alexithymia indicated that the associations of affect-regulation problems in childhood with alexithymia were stronger for girls, potentially putting girls with affect-regulation difficulties in childhood at higher risk for developing alexithymia in adolescence. The associations of cumulative contextual risk in childhood with alexithymia, substance use disorder, and depression diagnosis in adulthood were significant for both girls and boys. Our findings in regard to substance use and depression disorders revealed that alexithymia in adolescence predicted depression diagnosis in adulthood, particularly due to a contribution from the alexithymia domain of ‘difficulties identifying feelings.’ However, none of the alexithymia domains was directly associated with substance use disorder in adulthood.

Conclusions: Our study contributes to research that links alexithymia with difficulties in affect regulation and cumulative contextual risk in childhood, yielding findings that may be relevant for preventive interventions.     

Local delivery of mutant CCL2 protein‐reduced orthopaedic implant wear particle‐induced osteolysis and inflammation in vivo

Total joint replacement (TJR) has been widely used as a standard treatment for late‐stage arthritis. One challenge for long‐term efficacy of TJR is the generation of ultra‐high molecular weight polyethylene wear particles from the implant surface that activates an inflammatory cascade which may lead to bone loss, prosthetic loosening and eventual failure of the procedure. Here, we investigate the efficacy of local administration of mutant CCL2 proteins, such as 7ND, on reducing wear particle‐induced inflammation and osteolysis in vivo using a mouse calvarial model. Mice were treated with local injection of 7ND or phosphate buffered saline (PBS) every other day for up to 14 days. Wear particle‐induced osteolysis and the effects of 7ND treatment were evaluated using micro‐CT, histology, and immunofluorescence staining. Compared with the PBS control, 7ND treatment significantly decreased wear particle‐induced osteolysis, which led to a higher bone volume fraction and bone mineral density. Furthermore, immunofluorescence staining showed 7ND treatment decreased the number of recruited inflammatory cells and osteoclasts. Together, our results support the feasibility of local delivery of 7ND for mitigating wear particle‐induced inflammation and osteolysis, which may offer a promising strategy for extending the life time of TJRs. © 2015 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 34:58–64, 2016.     

High stromal versican expression predicts unfavourable outcome in oral squamous cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Versican, an extracellular matrix proteoglycan, has been noted to be expressed in several malignant tumours and has been suggested to play an important role in cancer development and tumour growth. AIMS: To investigate whether the versican expression level in the peritumoural stromal tissue of primary oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) predicts relapse-free or disease-specific survival. Also, to study the associations between versican expression and several other clinicopathological variables, as well as tumour cell proliferation. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry was used to study the expression of versican and tumour cell proliferative activity in 139 OSCCs. All pertinent clinical data were collected retrospectively from the hospital records. RESULTS: In this cohort, versican expression did not correlate with the clinicopathological factors or tumour cell proliferation. In univariate analyses, higher risk for disease recurrence was associated with higher stromal versican expression score (p = 0.02), positive neck node status (p = 0.02), lower Karnofsky performance status (p = 0.03) and higher tumour cell proliferation index (p = 0.04). Increased disease-specific risk of death was associated with high stromal versican expression score (p = 0.005) higher T class (p = 0.002), positive neck node status (p<0.001), higher stage (p<0.001), poorer histological differentiation (p = 0.005), worse general condition of the patient (p = 0.049) and increased tumour cell proliferative index (p = 0.02). In multivariate disease-specific survival analysis, high stromal versican expression score (p = 0.048), poorer histological differentiation (p = 0.047) and higher stage (p = 0.002) independently predicted poorer disease outcome. CONCLUSIONS: In this cohort, increased stromal versican expression correlated with both increased risk for disease recurrence and shortened survival. High stromal versican expression may thus be considered an independent and adverse prognostic marker in OSCC.     

Human articular cartilage proteoglycans are not undersulfated in osteoarthritis

Chondroitin sulfate is the major constituent of cartilage. Inadequate sulfate availability results in the production of undersulfated proteoglycans. In osteoarthritis, there is a net loss of articular cartilage proteoglycans. Theoretically, it is possible that during the progress of disease undersulfated glycosaminoglycans are synthesized producing proteoglycans with poorer biological properties. In this study, we tested whether in early human osteoarthritic articular cartilage (Mankin's score of 2 and 3) or more advanced disease (Mankin's score over 3), there are proteoglycans that contain a higher relative amount of nonsulfated chondroitin disaccharide isomer in their chondroitin sulfate chains by analyzing the molar ratios of chondroitin sulfate disaccharide isoforms with fluorophore-assisted carbohydrate electrophoresis. Our results indicated that the nonsulfated disaccharide of chondroitin sulfate formed in average only 1-2% of the total chondroitin sulfate. More important, the molar ratio of nonsulfated disaccharide did not appear to be increased in the osteoarthritic articular cartilage. We conclude that undersulfation of articular cartilage proteoglycans is not present in the human osteoarthritic joint.