The association between treated psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders and out-of-home care among Finnish children born in 1997.

Comprehensive overviews of the use of psychiatric services among children and adolescents placed in out-of-home care (OHC) by child welfare authorities are scarce. We examine specialized service use for psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders among children and adolescents in a total population involving children in OHC. We used the longitudinal administrative data of a complete Finnish birth cohort 1997 (N = 57,174). We estimated risk ratios (RRs) for a range of diagnosed psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders among children in OHC. We also estimated RRs for OHC among those with diagnosed disorders. We used descriptive methods to explore the timing of first entry into OHC relative to the first diagnosis. Among children in OHC, 61.9% were diagnosed with any psychiatric or neurodevelopmental disorder, compared with 18.0% among those never in OHC (RR: 3.7; 95% CI 3.6-3.8). The most common diagnosed disorders among children in OHC were depression and anxiety disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders, and oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder (ODD/CD). Among all children with any diagnosis, 18.1% experienced OHC, compared with 2.5% among those without a diagnosis (RR: 7.4; 95% CI 6.9-7.9). Of those diagnosed with self-harm and suicidality, ODD/CD, substance-related disorders, and psychotic and bipolar disorders, 43.5-61.2% experienced OHC. Of the children in OHC receiving psychiatric services, half were diagnosed before first placement in OHC. The majority of children with experience in OHC were diagnosed with psychiatric or neurodevelopmental disorders. They comprised a significant proportion of individuals treated for severe and complex psychiatric disorders and self-harm.

From care to education and work? Education and employment trajectories in early adulthood by children in out-of-home care.

BACKGROUND: Temporal dynamics during the early adulthood transition among children in out-of-home care is a neglected research area, leaving the possibility of coping with childhood adversity over time a poorly understood topic. OBJECTIVE: To explore early adulthood education and employment trajectories among young adults who experienced out-of-home care during childhood and to examine how various care history factors predict these trajectories. PARTICIPANTS: We use longitudinal birth cohort data comprising individual-level information from national registers of all children born in Finland in 1987 (N = 59,476, of whom 1893 were in care). SETTING AND METHODS: We use trajectory clustering from a previous study on the 1987 birth cohort to compare trajectories between children in care and a propensity score-matched group of peers never in care. We investigated the association between care history factors and trajectories with multinomial logistic regression modeling. RESULTS: Compared with the matched peer group, children in care were less likely to enter trajectories characterized by education and employment (38%) and more likely to enter trajectories involving early parenthood (14%) or long periods of fragmented social assistance benefit receipt and unemployment (21%). Those on early parenthood trajectories were almost exclusively women, whereas those receiving social assistance benefits and experiencing unemployment for lengthy periods were mostly men. Entering disadvantaged trajectories was associated with, inter alia, placement as an adolescent, residential care, and aging out of care. CONCLUSION: The study demonstrates the relevance of examining longitudinal trajectories in children in care's early adulthood. Many young adults with care experience need support in education and employment beyond young adult age.

Anthocyanin-enriched bilberry and blackcurrant extracts modulate amyloid precursor protein processing and alleviate behavioral abnormalities in the APP/PS1 mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

A growing body of epidemiological evidence suggests that fruit and vegetable juices containing various phenolic compounds can reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). As the altered amyloid precursor protein (APP) processing leading to increased ß-amyloid (Aß) production is a key pathogenic feature of AD, we elucidated the effects of different polyphenols on neuroprotection and APP processing under different in vitro stress conditions. The effects of these compounds were also investigated in transgenic AD mice (APdE9). Free radical toxicity and apoptosis were induced in human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells overexpressing APP751. Menadione-induced production of reactive oxygen species was significantly decreased upon treatment with myricetin, quercetin or anthocyanin-rich extracts in a dose-dependent manner. However, these extracts did not affect caspase-3 activation, APP processing or Aß levels upon staurosporine-induced apoptosis. APdE9 mice fed with anthocyanin-rich bilberry or blackcurrant extracts showed decreased APP C-terminal fragment levels in the cerebral cortex as compared to APdE9 mice on the control diet. Soluble Aß40 and Aß42 levels were significantly decreased in bilberry-fed mice as compared to blackcurrant-fed mice. Conversely, the ratio of insoluble Aß42/40 was significantly decreased in blackcurrant-fed mice relative to bilberry-fed mice. Both berry diets alleviated the spatial working memory deficit of aged APdE9 mice as compared to mice on the control diet. There were no changes in the expression or phosphorylation status of tau in APdE9 mice with respect to diet. These data suggest that anthocyanin-rich bilberry and blackcurrant diets favorably modulate APP processing and alleviate behavioral abnormalities in a mouse model of AD.