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
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.
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-…
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…
Low incidence of psychosis in Italy: confirmation from the first epidemiological study in Sicily
Purpose: The incidence of psychotic disorders varies in different geographical areas. As there have been no reports from Southern Italy, this study aimed to determine the incidence rate of first-episode psychosis in Palermo, Sicily. Methods: All patients, aged 18–65 years, presenting with a first episode of psychosis (FEP) (ICD-10 F20–29, F30–33) to mental health services in Palermo, were recorded over a 3-year period. Incidence rates of psychotic disorders and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated. Poisson regression was applied to estimate the differences in incidence rate ratio (IRR) by age, sex and migrant status. Results: Two hundred and four FEP participants were iden…
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…
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…
Pre-training inter-rater reliability of clinical instruments in an international psychosis research project.
International audience
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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-…