The Maudsley Environmental Risk Score for Psychosis
AbstractBackgroundRisk prediction algorithms have long been used in health research and practice (e.g. prediction of cardiovascular disease and diabetes). However, similar tools have not been developed for mental health. For example, for psychotic disorders, attempts to sum environmental risk are rare, unsystematic and dictated by available data. In light of this, we sought to develop a valid, easy to use measure of the aggregate environmental risk score (ERS) for psychotic disorders.MethodsWe reviewed the literature to identify well-replicated and validated environmental risk factors for psychosis that combine a significant effect and large-enough prevalence. Pooled estimates of relative r…
Association of extent of cannabis use and psychotic like intoxication experiences in a multi-national sample of first episode psychosis patients and controls
AbstractBackgroundFirst episode psychosis (FEP) patients who use cannabis experience more frequent psychotic and euphoric intoxication experiences compared to controls. It is not clear whether this is consequent to patients being more vulnerable to the effects of cannabis use or to their heavier pattern of use. We aimed to determine whether extent of use predicted psychotic-like and euphoric intoxication experiences in patients and controls and whether this differs between groups.MethodsWe analysed data on patients who had ever used cannabis (n = 655) and controls who had ever used cannabis (n = 654) across 15 sites from six countries in the EU-GEI study (2010–2015). We used multiple regres…
O4.8. CAN YOU SPOT EMOTIONS? FACIAL EMOTION RECOGNITION AND GENETIC RISK FOR PSYCHOSIS
Background Facial emotion recognition (FER) is a key component of social cognition which has been found consistently impaired in schizophrenia. Deficits in global facial affect recognition have been also found in First Episode Psychosis (FEP) with the same severity as at further stages, especially for anger recognition. Literature to date has shown intermediate emotion recognition ability in either people with family history for psychotic disorders and unaffected relatives of psychotic patients, in a continuum between patients and healthy controls. Furthermore, Polygenic Risk Score (PRS) for schizophrenia has been found associated with social cognition, especially with facial emotion identi…
The EUropean Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI)
Funder: FP7 Ideas: European Research Council; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100011199; Grant(s): HEALTH-F2-2010-241909
Are Polygenic Risk Scores for Major Mental Disorders Associated with General or Specific Psychosis Symptom dimensions?
Background Psychotic symptoms can be conceptualised as dimensions of psychopathology cutting across diagnostic boundaries. Thus, they might be considered enhanced quantitative phenotypes to relate to genetic variants as summarised by Polygenic Risk Scores (PRSs) for Major Mental Disorders (MMDs), including Schizophrenia (SZ), Bipolar Disorder (BP), and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The objectives of this study were to: 1) identify the dimensional structure of symptoms at First Episode Psychosis (FEP), testing whether a bi-factor model statistically fits the conceptualization of psychosis as a single common construct (general psychosis factor) while also recognising multidimensionality (p…
Transdiagnostic dimensions of psychopathology at first episode psychosis: findings from the multinational EU-GEI study.
Background\ud The value of the nosological distinction between non-affective and affective psychosis has frequently been challenged. We aimed to investigate the transdiagnostic dimensional structure and associated characteristics of psychopathology at First Episode Psychosis (FEP). Regardless of diagnostic categories, we expected that positive symptoms occurred more frequently in ethnic minority groups and in more densely populated environments, and that negative symptoms were associated with indices of neurodevelopmental impairment.\ud \ud Method\ud This study included 2182 FEP individuals recruited across six countries, as part of the EUropean network of national schizophrenia networks st…
Synergistic effects of childhood adversity and polygenic risk in first-episode psychosis
The European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) Project is funded by grant agreement HEALTH-F2-2010-241909 (Project EU-GEI) from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme.
The Relationship Between Polygenic Risk Scores and Cognition in Schizophrenia
Abstract Background Cognitive impairment is a clinically important feature of schizophrenia. Polygenic risk score (PRS) methods have demonstrated genetic overlap between schizophrenia, bipolar disorder (BD), major depressive disorder (MDD), educational attainment (EA), and IQ, but very few studies have examined associations between these PRS and cognitive phenotypes within schizophrenia cases. Methods We combined genetic and cognitive data in 3034 schizophrenia cases from 11 samples using the general intelligence factor g as the primary measure of cognition. We used linear regression to examine the association between cognition and PRS for EA, IQ, schizophrenia, BD, and MDD. The results wer…
Migration history and risk of psychosis: results from the multinational EU-GEI study.
The European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) Project was funded by grant agreement Health-F2-2010-241909 (Project EU-GEI) from the European Community’s Seventh Framework programme.
Perceived major experiences of discrimination, ethnic group, and risk of psychosis in a six-country case-control study
AbstractBackgroundPerceived discrimination is associated with worse mental health. Few studies have assessed whether perceived discrimination (i) is associated with the risk of psychotic disorders and (ii) contributes to an increased risk among minority ethnic groups relative to the ethnic majority.MethodsWe used data from the European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions Work Package 2, a population-based case−control study of incident psychotic disorders in 17 catchment sites across six countries. We calculated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the associations between perceived discrimination and psychosis using mixed-…
S77. JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS AND FACIAL EMOTION RECOGNITION IMPAIRMENT IN FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS ACROSS EUROPE
Abstract Background Jumping to conclusions (JTC) is a well-established reasoning and data gathering bias found in patients with psychosis even at illness onset (First Episode Psychosis, FEP). Preliminary work in this field focused primarily on the association with delusions, although jumping to conclusions has also been found in non-deluded schizophrenia patients after remission, and in individual with at risk mental state. Moreover, psychotic patients tend to show impairments in social cognition, struggling in identifying, processing and interpreting social clues. Deficits in facial emotion recognition (FER) – a key component of the construct – represent a well-replicated finding in schizo…
T110. FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOTIC PATIENTS WITH A HISTORY OF FREQUENT CANNABIS USE EXPRESS MORE POSITIVE SYMPTOMS AT ILLNESS ONSET THAN THOSE WHO NEVER USED CANNABIS
Abstract Background Robust evidence has demonstrated that cannabis use increases the risk to develop psychotic disorders. However, a limited number of studies have investigated if and how cannabis use influences psychopathology profiles at first episode psychosis (FEP). Based on the evidence that dopamine dysfunction contributes to explain positive symptoms in psychosis, and that the main cannabis’ psychoactive component, Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), modulates the dopamine system, we hypothesise that: 1) positive symptoms at FEP are more common among psychotic patients who used cannabis compared with never users; 2) this association is a dose-response relationship. Methods We analyzed a s…
Schizophrenia polygenic risk score and cannabis use modify psychosis expression in first episode psychosis patients and population controls
AbstractBackgroundDiagnostic categories within the psychosis spectrum are widely used in clinical practice, however psychosis may occur on a continuum. Therefore, we explored whether the continuous distribution of psychotic symptoms across categories is a function of genetic as well as environmental risk factors, such as polygenic risk scores (PRSs) and cannabis use.MethodsAs part of the EU-GEI study, we genotyped first episode psychosis patients (FEP) and population controls, for whom transdiagnostic dimensions of psychotic symptoms or experiences were generated using item response bi-factor modelling. Linear regression was used, separately in patients and controls, to test the association…
FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOTIC PATIENTS WITH A HISTORY OF FREQUENT CANNABIS USE EXPRESS MORE POSITIVE SYMPTOMS AT ILLNESS ONSET THAN THOSE WHO NEVER USED CANNABIS
Background: Robust evidence has demonstrated that cannabis use increases the risk to develop psychotic disorders. However, a limited number of studies have investigated if and how cannabis use influences psychopathology profiles at first episode psychosis (FEP). Based on the evidence that dopamine dysfunction contributes to explain positive symptoms in psychosis, and that the main cannabis’ psychoactive component, Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), modulates the dopamine system, we hypothesise that: 1) positive symptoms at FEP are more common among psychotic patients who used cannabis compared with never users; 2) this association is a dose-response relationship. Methods: We analyzed a sample o…
IS THE ERA OF CANDIDATE GENES X CANNABIS USE REALLY DEAD?
Background: Historically, gene X environment examinations in psychotic disorders have employed candidate gene methods and environmental determinants impacting on similar biological mechanisms. However, genome wide association studies (GWAS) show that many variants associated with schizophrenia have a modest effect size on risk. In this respect, it is unclear whether the effect of cannabis on psychosis phenotypes is modified by a few genes, e.g. those involved in dopamine signalling, or by the overall genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia. Indeed, candidate gene approaches might be complementary to GWAS to test gene X cannabis interaction. We aimed to investigate the interactive effects of…
Duration of untreated psychosis in first-episode psychosis is not associated with common genetic variants for major psychiatric conditions: results from the multi-center EU-GEI Study
The EU-GEI Project is funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement No. HEALTH-F2-2010–241909 (Project EU-GEI).
Childhood Maltreatment, Educational Attainment, and IQ: Findings From a Multicentric Case-control Study of First-episode Psychosis (EU-GEI).
[Background and hypothesis] Evidence suggests that childhood maltreatment (ie, childhood abuse and childhood neglect) affects educational attainment and cognition. However, the association between childhood maltreatment and Intelligence Quotient (IQ) seems stronger among controls compared to people with psychosis. We hypothesised that: the association between childhood maltreatment and poor cognition would be stronger among community controls than among people with first-episode of psychosis (FEP); compared to abuse, neglect would show stronger associations with educational attainment and cognition; the association between childhood maltreatment and IQ would be partially accounted for by ot…
T42. JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE POLYGENIC RISK SCORE FOR INTELLIGENCE BUT NOT FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA. PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM THE EU-GEI STUDY
Background Psychotic patients tend to require less evidence to make decisions compared to general population. This bias named Jumping to Conclusions (JTC) has been found at First Episode Psychosis (FEP) in schizophrenia patients and associated with proneness to psychotic-like experiences in the general population. Interesting findings showed also strong association with lower cognitive functioning in psychotic patients, which in turn has been shown as a candidate intermediate phenotype for psychosis. Overall, findings to date could suggest a shared genetic liability between the occurrence of JTC and psychosis, potentially via IQ. The present study aims to investigate whether the presence of…
The relationship of symptom dimensions with premorbid adjustment and cognitive characteristics at first episode psychosis: Findings from the EU-GEI study
Premorbid functioning and cognitive measures may reflect gradients of developmental impairment across diagnostic categories in psychosis. In this study, we sought to examine the associations of current cognition and premorbid adjustment with symptom dimensions in a large first episode psychosis (FEP) sample. We used data from the international EU-GEI study. Bifactor modelling of the Operational Criteria in Studies of Psychotic Illness (OPCRIT) ratings provided general and specific symptom dimension scores. Premorbid Adjustment Scale estimated premorbid social (PSF) and academic adjustment (PAF), and WAIS-brief version measured IQ. A MANCOVA model examined the relationship between symptom di…
O12.4. SOME OF THE INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN RISK TO DEVELOP PSYCHOSIS AMONG CANNABIS USERS CAN BE EXPLAINED BY WHERE THEY LIVE AND BY THEIR AGE AT FIRST USE
Abstract Background Cannabis use remains the most widely used recreational drug worldwide. Following from several USA states legalisation policies, European countries are reconsidering their cannabis laws. While a significant amount of Epidemiological evidence has reported that cannabis use increases the risk of psychosis it is still unclear: 1) what underpins individual differences in developing a psychotic disorder following cannabis use; 2) if variations in availability of cannabis have affected rate of Psychotic disorders across Europe. Methods Using detailed data on lifetime pattern of cannabis use from the EUGEI first episode case-control study (N=2300) and the available Incidence rat…
Pre-training inter-rater reliability of clinical instruments in an international psychosis research project.
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Jumping To Conclusions, General Intelligence, And Psychosis Liability: Findings From The Multi-Centre EU-GEI Case-Control Study
AbstractBackgroundThe “jumping to conclusions” (JTC) bias is associated with both psychosis and general cognition but their relationship is unclear. In this study, we set out to clarify the relationship between the JTC bias, IQ, psychosis and polygenic liability to schizophrenia and IQ.Methods817 FEP patients and 1294 population-based controls completed assessments of general intelligence (IQ), and JTC (assessed by the number of beads drawn on the probabilistic reasoning “beads” task) and provided blood or saliva samples from which we extracted DNA and computed polygenic risk scores for IQ and schizophrenia.ResultsThe estimated proportion of the total effect of case/control differences on J…
5.4 BIOLOGICAL AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF TRANSDIAGNOSTIC AND SPECIFIC SYMPTOM DIMENSIONS AT PSYCHOSIS ONSET: FINDINGS FROM THE EUGEI STUDY
Abstract Background Current diagnostic models of psychosis have been questioned since Kraepelin’s original dichotomy of dementia praecox and manic depression. Indeed, increasing evidence has suggested that a dimensional approach might be a valid alternative platform for research. However, while an increasing number of studies have investigated how environmental risk factors for affective and non-affective psychosis map onto symptom dimensions, only a few have examined these dimensions in relation to genetic variants as summarised by Polygenic Risk Score (PRS). Furthermore, no studies have examined the putative effect of PRS for Schizophrenia (SZ), Bipolar Disorder (BP), and Major Depressive…
Treated Incidence of Psychotic Disorders in the Multinational EU-GEI Study
Importance: Psychotic disorders contribute significantly to the global disease burden, yet the latest international incidence study of psychotic disorders was conducted in the 1980s. Objectives: To estimate the incidence of psychotic disorders using comparable methods across 17 catchment areas in 6 countries and to examine the variance between catchment areas by putative environmental risk factors. Design, Setting, and Participants: An international multisite incidence study (the European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions) was conducted from May 1, 2010, to April 1, 2015, among 2774 individuals from England (2 catchment areas), France (3 catch…
Use of multiple Polygenic Risk Scores for distinguishing Schizophrenia-spectrum disorder and Affective psychosis categories; the EUGEI study
ABSTRACTSchizophrenia (SZ), Bipolar Disorder (BD) and Depression (D) run in families. This susceptibility is partly due to hundreds or thousands of common genetic variants, each conferring a fractional risk. The cumulative effects of the associated variants can be summarised as a polygenic risk score (PRS). Using data from the EUGEI case-control study, we aimed to test whether PRSs for three major psychiatric disorders (SZ, BD, D) and for intelligent quotient (IQ) as a neurodevelopmental proxy, can discriminate affective psychosis (AP) from schizophrenia-spectrum disorder (SSD). Participants (573 cases, 1005 controls) of european ancestry from 17 sites as part of the EUGEI study were succes…
The EUropean Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI): Incidence and First-Episode Case-Control Programme. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol
Purpose: The EUropean Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) study contains an unparalleled wealth of comprehensive data that allows for testing hypotheses about (1) variations in incidence within and between countries, including by urbanicity and minority ethnic groups; and (2) the role of multiple environmental and genetic risk factors, and their interactions, in the development of psychotic disorders. Methods: Between 2010 and 2015, we identified 2774 incident cases of psychotic disorders during 12.9 million person-years at risk, across 17 sites in 6 countries (UK, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, and Brazil). Of the 2774 incident…
O3.1. ASSOCIATION OF EXTENT OF CANNABIS USE AND ACUTE INTOXICATION EXPERIENCES IN A MULTI-NATIONAL SAMPLE OF FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS PATIENTS AND CONTROLS
Background FEP patients who use cannabis experience more frequent intoxication experiences compared to controls. It is not clear whether this is consequent to patients being more vulnerable to the effects of cannabis use or to their heavier pattern of use. We aimed to determine whether extent of use predicted psychotic-like and euphoric intoxication experiences in FEP patients and controls and whether this differs between groups. Methods We analysed data on lifetime cannabis using patients (n=655) and controls (n=654) across 15 sites from six countries in the EU-GEI study (2010–2015). We used multiple regression to model predictors of cannabis-induced experiences and Factorial ANOVA to dete…
Premorbid Adjustment and IQ in Patients With First-Episode Psychosis: A Multisite Case-Control Study of Their Relationship With Cannabis Use
Abstract Psychotic patients with a lifetime history of cannabis use generally show better cognitive functioning than other psychotic patients. Some authors suggest that cannabis-using patients may have been less cognitively impaired and less socially withdrawn in their premorbid life. Using a dataset comprising 948 patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) and 1313 population controls across 6 countries, we examined the extent to which IQ and both early academic (Academic Factor [AF]) and social adjustment (Social Factor [SF]) are related to the lifetime frequency of cannabis use in both patients and controls. We expected a higher IQ and a better premorbid social adjustment in psychotic p…
The independent and combined influence of schizophrenia polygenic risk score and heavy cannabis use on risk for psychotic disorder: A case-control analysis from the EUGEI study.
Background: Some recent studies have challenged the direction of causality for the association between cannabis use and psychotic disorder, suggesting that cannabis use initiation is explained by common genetic variants associated with risk of schizophrenia. We used data from the European Union Gene-Environment Interaction consortium (EUGEI) case-control study to test for the independent and combined effect of heavy cannabis use, and of Schizophrenia Polygenic risk score (SZ PRS), on risk for psychotic disorder. Methods: Genome-wide data were obtained from 492 first episode psychosis patients (FEPp) and from 787 controls of European Ancestry, and used to generate SZ PRS from the summary res…
SOME OF THE INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN RISK TO DEVELOP PSYCHOSIS AMONG CANNABIS USERS CAN BE EXPLAINED BY WHERE THEY LIVE AND BY THEIR AGE AT FIRST USE
Background Cannabis use remains the most widely used recreational drug worldwide. Following from several USA states legalisation policies, European countries are reconsidering their cannabis laws. While a significant amount of Epidemiological evidence has reported that cannabis use increases the risk of psychosis it is still unclear: 1) what underpins individual differences in developing a psychotic disorder following cannabis use; 2) if variations in availability of cannabis have affected rate of Psychotic disorders across Europe. Methods Using detailed data on lifetime pattern of cannabis use from the EUGEI first episode case-control study (N=2300) and the available Incidence rates of Psy…
Jumping to conclusions, general intelligence, and psychosis liability: Findings from the multi-centre EU-GEI case-control study
This study was funded by the Medical Research Council, the European Community’s Seventh Framework Program grant [agreement HEALTH-F2-2009-241909 (Project EU-GEI)], São Paulo Research Foundation (grant 2012/0417-0), the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London, the NIHR BRC at University College London and the Wellcome Trust (grant 101272/Z/12/Z).
Social disadvantage, linguistic distance, ethnic minority status and first-episode psychosis: Results from the EU-GEI case-control study
The European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) Project was funded by grant agreement Health-F2-2010-241909 (Project EU-GEI) from the European Community’s Seventh Framework programme. The Brazilian study was funded by grant 2012-0417-0 from the São Paulo Research Foundation. Dr Jongsma is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (grant ES/S011714/1). Dr Kirkbride is funded by the Wellcome Trust and Royal Society (Grant 101272/Z/13/Z). Dr Jongsma and Professor Jones are funded by the National Institute of Health Research Collaboration of Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care East of England. Professor Rutten is funded…
Early Parental Death and Risk of Psychosis in Offspring: A Six-Country Case-Control Study
Evidence for early parental death as a risk factor for psychosis in offspring is inconclusive. We analyzed data from a six-country, case-control study to examine the associations of early parental death, type of death (maternal, paternal, both), and child’s age at death with psychosis, both overall and by ethnic group. In fully adjusted multivariable mixed-effects logistic regression models, experiencing early parental death was associated with 1.54-fold greater odds of psychosis (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.23, 1.92). Experiencing maternal death had 2.27-fold greater odds (95% CI: 1.18, 4.37), paternal death had 1.14-fold greater odds (95% CI: 0.79, 1.64), and both deaths had 4.4…
Facial Emotion Recognition in Psychosis and Associations With Polygenic Risk for Schizophrenia
The EU-GEI Project was funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement No. HEALTH-F2-2010-241909 (Project EU-GEI). The Brazilian study was funded by the Säo Paulo Research Foundation under grant number 2012/0417-0.
Cannabis-associated symptom profiles in patients with first episode psychosis and population controls
AbstractObjectiveThe evidence is mixed on whether cannabis use is associated with a particular symptomatology in first episode psychosis (FEP) patients.The authors set out to investigate a) patterns of association between cannabis use and transdiagnostic symptom dimensions; b) whether the extent of use of cannabis contributes to the variation in clinical and subclinical symptom profiles.MethodThe authors analysed data from 901 patients and 1235 controls recruited across six countries, as part of the European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) study. Item response modelling was used to estimate two bifactor models, which included genera…
Use of multiple polygenic risk scores for distinguishing schizophrenia-spectrum disorder and affective psychosis categories in a first-episode sample; the EU-GEI study
This work was supported by funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement No. HEALTH-F2-2010-241909 (Project EU-GEI). (...) CA was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation; Instituto de Salud Carlos III (SAM16PE07CP1, PI16/02012, PI19/024), co-financed by ERDF Funds from the European Commission, ‘A way of making Europe’, CIBERSAM. Madrid Regional Government (B2017/BMD-3740 AGES-CM-2), Fundación Familia Alonso and Fundación Alicia Koplowitz. MB was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (PI08/0208; PI11/00325; PI14/00612), Instituto de Salud Carlos III – ERDF Funds from the European Commission, ‘A way of making Europ…
JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS AND FACIAL EMOTION RECOGNITION IMPAIRMENT IN FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS ACROSS EUROPE
Background Jumping to conclusions (JTC) is a well-established reasoning and data gathering bias found in patients with psychosis even at illness onset (First Episode Psychosis, FEP). Preliminary work in this field focused primarily on the association with delusions, although jumping to conclusions has also been found in non-deluded schizophrenia patients after remission, and in individual with at risk mental state. Moreover, psychotic patients tend to show impairments in social cognition, struggling in identifying, processing and interpreting social clues. Deficits in facial emotion recognition (FER) – a key component of the construct – represent a well-replicated finding in schizophrenia. …
The Independent Effects of Psychosocial Stressors on Subclinical Psychosis: Findings from the Multinational EU-GEI Study
The influence of psychosocial stressors on psychosis risk has usually been studied in isolation and after the onset of the disorder, potentially ignoring important confounding relationships or the fact that some stressors that may be the consequence of the disorder rather than preexisting. The study of subclinical psychosis could help to address some of these issues. In this study, we investigated whether there was (i) an association between dimensions of subclinical psychosis and several psychosocial stressors including: childhood trauma, self-reported discrimination experiences, low social capital, and stressful life experiences, and (ii) any evidence of environment-environment (ExE) inte…
T52. COGNITION, METACOGNITION AND SOCIAL COGNITION AFTER A FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS. PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM A 5-YEAR-FOLLOW-UP STUDY
Abstract Background Cognitive impairment is considered a core feature of psychotic disorders. Deficits in cognition, metacognition and social cognition have been reported to be correlated, and indeed predictors, of functional outcome or level of disability. Psychotic patients tend to present lower IQ and show impairment in specific cognitive domains, and in social cognition, than controls. Several studies have found deficits in facial emotion recognition (FER) and a higher prevalence of the jumping to conclusions (JTC) reasoning and data gathering biases among psychotic patients, even at time of illness onset, compared to controls. However, the trajectory of this impairment remains unclear.…
BIOLOGICAL AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF TRANSDIAGNOSTIC AND SPECIFIC SYMPTOM DIMENSIONS AT PSYCHOSIS ONSET: FINDINGS FROM THE EUGEI STUDY
Background Current diagnostic models of psychosis have been questioned since Kraepelin’s original dichotomy of dementia praecox and manic depression. Indeed, increasing evidence has suggested that a dimensional approach might be a valid alternative platform for research. However, while an increasing number of studies have investigated how environmental risk factors for affective and non-affective psychosis map onto symptom dimensions, only a few have examined these dimensions in relation to genetic variants as summarised by Polygenic Risk Score (PRS). Furthermore, no studies have examined the putative effect of PRS for Schizophrenia (SZ), Bipolar Disorder (BP), and Major Depressive Disorder…
The incidence of psychotic disorders among migrants and minority ethnic groups in Europe: findings from the multinational EU-GEI study
AbstractBackgroundIn Europe, the incidence of psychotic disorder is high in certain migrant and minority ethnic groups (hence: ‘minorities’). However, it is unknown how the incidence pattern for these groups varies within this continent. Our objective was to compare, across sites in France, Italy, Spain, the UK and the Netherlands, the incidence rates for minorities and the incidence rate ratios (IRRs, minorities v. the local reference population).MethodsThe European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene–Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) study was conducted between 2010 and 2015. We analyzed data on incident cases of non-organic psychosis (International Classification of …
The contribution of cannabis use to variation in the incidence of psychotic disorder across Europe (EU-GEI): a multicentre case-control study.
Background: Cannabis use is associated with increased risk of later psychotic disorder but whether it affects incidence of the disorder remains unclear. We aimed to identify patterns of cannabis use with the strongest effect on odds of psychotic disorder across Europe and explore whether differences in such patterns contribute to variations in the incidence rates of psychotic disorder. Methods: We included patients aged 18–64 years who presented to psychiatric services in 11 sites across Europe and Brazil with first-episode psychosis and recruited controls representative of the local populations. We applied adjusted logistic regression models to the data to estimate which patterns of canna…
DOES POLYGENIC RISK SCORE FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA IMPACT ON JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS? PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM THE EU-GEI CASE-CONTROL STUDY
Background: Jumping to conclusions (JTC) is a reasoning and data gathering bias that results in the tendency to require less evidence and make hasty decisions. Preliminary work on reasoning bias focused primarily on the association with delusions, although jumping to conclusions has also been found in non-deluded schizophrenia (SZ) patients. Literature to date has shown JTC as a well-established bias in psychosis even at First Episode Psychosis (FEP), after remission, and in individuals with at risk mental state. Furthermore, JTC has been found to be associated with proneness to psychotic-like experiences in the general population. In teresting findings showed also an association with lower…
Identifying gene-environment interactions in schizophrenia: contemporary challenges for integrated, large-scale investigations
European Community Recent years have seen considerable progress in epidemiological and molecular genetic research into environmental and genetic factors in schizophrenia, but methodological uncertainties remain with regard to validating environmental exposures, and the population risk conferred by individual molecular genetic variants is small. There are now also a limited number of studies that have investigated molecular genetic candidate gene-environment interactions (G x E), however, so far, thorough replication of findings is rare and G x E research still faces several conceptual and methodological challenges. in this article, we aim to review these recent developments and illustrate h…
The continuity of effect of schizophrenia polygenic risk score and patterns of cannabis use on transdiagnostic symptom dimensions at first-episode psychosis: findings from the EU-GEI study
The work was supported by Guarantors of Brain post-doctoral clinical fellowship to DQ; Clinician Scientist Medical Research Council fellowship (project reference MR/M008436/1) to MDF; Heisenberg professorship from the German Research Founda- tion (grant no. 389624707) to UR; the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. The EU-GEI Project is funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement No. HEALTH-F2-…