High-resolution examination of changes in drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic: Nine-wave findings from a longitudinal observational cohort study of community adults.

Few multi-wave longitudinal studies have examined changes in drinking across extended periods of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Using multiple indicators over three years, the current study examined: a) overall drinking changes; b) sex, income, age, and pre-COVID drinking level as moderators of changes; and c) the clinical significance of the observed changes. Using a longitudinal observational cohort design with nonclinical adults from the general community (N = 1395), assessments were collected over nine waves, two pre-COVID (April 2019 and October 2019) and seven intra-COVID (April 2020-April 2022). Drinking was measured as percent drinking days, percent heavy drinking days, and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) score. Clinically significant changes were defined based on the World Health Organization risk levels. All indicators exhibited significant changes from pre-pandemic to intra-pandemic periods, with drinking changes comprising early pandemic increases followed by subsequent decreases and AUDIT scores consistently declining. Pre-pandemic drinking level substantially moderated all changes. Heavier drinkers exhibited larger decreases compared to other drinking groups. In terms of clinically important changes, ∼10% of pre-pandemic abstinent or low-risk drinkers transitioned to medium- or high-risk status during the pandemic. In contrast, 37.1% of medium-risk drinkers and 44.6% of high-risk drinkers exhibited clinically significant decreases during the intra-pandemic period. Collectively, these findings highlight the multifarious impacts of the pandemic on drinking over time, comprising both increases and decreases in drinking behaviour.

Changes in posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity during the COVID-19 pandemic: Ten-wave findings from a longitudinal observational cohort study of community adults.

Few studies have examined changes in posttraumatic-stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology across an extended time period during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study used a longitudinal cohort design to examine: (1) changes in overall PTSD symptoms and symptom clusters; (2) moderators of change; (3) the clinical significance of observed changes; and (4) correlates of clinically meaningful changes. Community adults (N = 1412) were assessed using the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) at 10 timepoints (October 2018 - April 2022). Changes in overall PCL-5 score and symptom clusters were substantially moderated by pre-pandemic clinical severity (i.e., above/below PCL-5 cut-off). Pre-pandemic non-clinical participants exhibited increases in overall scores, Cluster D (negative cognitions), and Cluster E (arousal), while clinically elevated participants exhibited decreases overall and in all clusters. Regarding clinical significance, 12% of pre-pandemic non-clinical participants exhibited clinically meaningful increases, and 4% exhibited decreases. Conversely, 42% of the pre-pandemic elevated group exhibited clinically meaningful decreases, while 6% exhibited increases. Pandemic impacts in numerous psychosocial domains were associated with clinically meaningful change. Collectively, these findings reveal substantively divergent trajectories by pre-pandemic severity and PTSD symptom cluster. The large proportion of pre-pandemic high-severity participants exhibiting sizable decreases was an unexpected notable observation.

Periodicity and severity of changes in depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic: Ten-wave longitudinal findings from an observational cohort study of community adults.

AIMS: Few multi-wave longitudinal studies have examined mental health changes across the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The current study examined: (a) overall changes in depression and anxiety over 10-waves of data collection; (b) subgroup moderators of changes; (c) clinical severity of the changes via minimally important differences (MIDs); and (d) correlates of clinically important changes. METHODS: Using a longitudinal observational cohort design, 1412 non-clinical adults (Mage=36; 60% female) were assessed for depression and anxiety via the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 from October 2018 to April 2022 (3 pre-pandemic, 7 intra-pandemic waves; M retention = 92%). RESULTS: Depression and anxiety exhibited significant intra-pandemic changes, reflecting initial increases, followed by decreases. Pre-pandemic severity moderated changes, with low severity participants exhibiting increases and high severity participants exhibiting non-significant change or decreases. For depression and anxiety, respectively, 10% and 11% exhibited MID increases, while 4% and 6% exhibited MID decreases. Divergent patterns were present by severity subgroup, with the lowest severity exhibiting higher rates of MID increases and the highest severity subgroup exhibiting higher rates of MID decreases. CONCLUSIONS: These findings illuminate the periodicity of depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic and reveal an unexpected inverse relationship between increases and decreases based on pre-pandemic severity.

Public health guideline compliance and perceived government effectiveness during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada: Findings from a longitudinal cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has imposed enormous adversity worldwide. Public health guidelines have been a first line of defense but rely on compliance with evolving recommendations and restrictions. This study sought to characterize adherence to and perceptions of public health guidelines over a one-year timeframe during the pandemic. METHODS: Participants were 1435 community adults in Ontario who completed assessments at five time points (April 2020, July 2020, October 2020, January 2021, and April 2021; 92% retention). Participants were assessed for self-reported adherence to government protocols and perceptions of government response (importance, compliance, and effectiveness). Analyses used general linear mixed-effects modelling of overall changes by time and examined differences based on age and sex. FINDINGS: Over time, participants reported high or increasing behavioural engagement in public health guidelines, including physical distancing, restricting activity, and masking. In contrast, participants exhibited significant reductions in perceived importance and compliance, with evidence of more negative changes in younger participants. The largest changes were a substantial reduction in perceived government effectiveness, from predominantly positive perceptions to predominantly negative perceptions. INTERPRETATION: These results illuminate evolving trends in public health compliance and perceptions over the course of the pandemic in Canada, revealing the malleability of public perceptions of public health recommendations and government effectiveness. FUNDING: This research was funded by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). CIHR had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, interpretation, or writing of the report.

COVID-19 Vaccine Perceptions and Differences by Sex, Age, and Education in 1,367 Community Adults in Ontario.

Background: COVID-19 is a global pandemic and vaccination efforts may be impeded by vaccine hesitancy. The present study examined willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, the associated reasons for willingness/unwillingness, and vaccine safety perceptions in a cross-sectional assessment of community adults in Ontario. Methods: One thousand three hundred sixty seven individuals (60.6% female, mean age = 37.5%) participated in this study between January 15, 2021 and February 15, 2021. Perceptions of vaccine safety and reasons for willingness/unwillingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine were investigated using an online assessment. Perceptions were investigated in general and by age, sex and education using analysis of variance. Results: Overall, 82.8% of the sample reported they were willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine and 17.2% reported they were unwilling. The three most common reasons for unwillingness were long-term side effects (65.5%), immediate side effects (60.5%), and lack of trust in the vaccine (55.2%). Vaccine willingness significantly differed by sex and education level, with female participants and those with less than a bachelor's degree being more likely to report unwillingness. Perception of COVID-19 vaccine safety was significantly lower (-10.3%) than vaccines in general and differed by age, sex and education, with females, older adults, and individuals with less than a bachelor's degree reporting lower perceived COVID-19 vaccine safety. Conclusion: In this sample of community adults, the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy rate was less than one in five individuals, but with higher rates in population subgroups. Targeting public health messaging to females and individuals with less than bachelor's degree, and addressing concerns about long-term and immediate side effects may increase vaccine uptake.

Characterizing the gut microbiota in adults with bipolar disorder: a pilot study.

Background: Convergent evidence implicates gut microbiota in human health and disease. Hitherto, relatively few studies have evaluated the gut microbiota profile in individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) relative to healthy controls (HC). Methods: Fecal samples were collected from subjects (aged 18-65) meeting DSM-5-defined criteria for BD and age- and sex-matched HC without current or past history of mental or major medical disorders. Samples were sequenced using Illumina sequencing and association of specific taxa and co-occurrence of taxa with sample groups including the effect of diet was assessed using cluster analysis and analysis of communities of microorganisms (ANCOM). Nutritional composition was evaluated using the Dietary Questionnaire for Epidemiological Studies (DQES v2) Food Frequency Questionnaire. Results: Forty-six subjects were enrolled (n=23 BD, n=23 HC). Cluster analyses did not identify any significant differences between BD and HC (p=0.38). Lower microbiota diversity was observed among BD subjects relative to HC (p=0.04). A greater abundance of a Clostridiaceae OTU was observed among BD subjects when compared to HC and of Collinsella among BD-II subjects relative to BD-I. Cluster analysis revealed that neither diagnosis (p=0.38) nor diet (p=0.43) had a significant effect on overall gut microbiota composition. Limitations: This study has a small sample size and insufficient control for some potential moderating factors (e.g. psychotropic medication and smoking). Conclusion: This study suggests that individuals with BD may have a distinct gut microbiota profile compared to healthy controls, with a greater abundance of Clostridiaceae and Collinsella. These findings need to be replicated in future studies with larger sample sizes.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of prolactin and iron deficiency in peripartum cardiomyopathy.

OBJECTIVES: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies that compared levels of molecular biomarkers in women with peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) to those in healthy pregnant and postpartum women to: (1) assess the evidence for prolactin (PRL) metabolism in PPCM, (2) ascertain the evidence for biomarkers of iron deficiency in PPCM, (3) identify other biomarkers associated with PPCM. METHODS: We searched Medline, Embase, Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and the Global Health Library from inception without language restriction for studies that compared biomarkers levels in PPCM cases to healthy controls. Pooled standardised mean difference (SMD) was generated using a random effects model for the difference in levels of biomarkers. RESULTS: Two studies assessed the association of PRL with PPCM, and reported that PPCM cases have higher levels of total PRL. No studies investigated iron metabolism in PPCM. Other biomarkers associated with PPCM included serum levels of natriuretic peptides (SMD=3.77, 95% CI 0.71 to 6.82), albumin (SMD=-0.67, 95% CI -1.01 to -0.32), C-reactive protein (SMD=1.67, 95% CI 0.22 to 3.12), selenium (SMD=-0.73, 95% CI -1.58 to 0.12), cardiac troponins (SMD=1.06, 95% CI 0.33 to 1.80), creatinine (SMD=0.51, 95% CI 0.33 to 0.69), white bloodcells (SMD=0.44, 95 % CI 0.07 to 0.82), haemoglobin (SMD=-0.45, 95% CI -0.64 to-0.26). CONCLUSIONS: More robust molecular studies are needed to explore the association between prolactin and PPCM in human subjects and to determine the extent to which iron deficiency (with or without anaemia) contributes to the risk of PPCM.

On the generalization of tones: A detailed exploration of non-speech auditory perception stimuli.

The dynamic changes in natural sounds' temporal structures convey important event-relevant information. However, prominent researchers have previously expressed concern that non-speech auditory perception research disproportionately uses simplistic stimuli lacking the temporal variation found in natural sounds. A growing body of work now demonstrates that some conclusions and models derived from experiments using simplistic tones fail to generalize, raising important questions about the types of stimuli used to assess the auditory system. To explore the issue empirically, we conducted a novel, large-scale survey of non-speech auditory perception research from four prominent journals. A detailed analysis of 1017 experiments from 443 articles reveals that 89% of stimuli employ amplitude envelopes lacking the dynamic variations characteristic of non-speech sounds heard outside the laboratory. Given differences in task outcomes and even the underlying perceptual strategies evoked by dynamic vs. invariant amplitude envelopes, this raises important questions of broad relevance to psychologists and neuroscientists alike. This lack of exploration of a property increasingly recognized as playing a crucial role in perception suggests future research using stimuli with time-varying amplitude envelopes holds significant potential for furthering our understanding of the auditory system's basic processing capabilities.

Cannabis use, cognitive performance, and symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in community adults.

There is some evidence that cannabis use is associated with lower cognitive performance and symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but the existing literature is relatively inconsistent, potentially due to small samples in previous studies. Using a dimensional design, the current study examined cannabis use severity and age of first cannabis use in relation to neurocognitive performance and ADHD symptoms in a large sample of community adults (N = 1,008, Mage = 38.49, 56.0% female). Participants were assessed for cannabis involvement, neurocognitive performance, and ADHD symptoms. Dimensional relationships were investigated using multiple hierarchical regressions. Using a covariate model of age, income, sex, alcohol use, and tobacco use, severity of cannabis involvement was significantly associated with greater endorsement of both hyperactive-impulsive and inattentive ADHD symptoms but not with any other cognitive measures in the full sample. Exploratory analyses found greater cannabis use severity was associated with digit span forward and hyperactive ADHD symptoms in young adults (n = 371) and was associated with greater delay discounting, hyperactive, and impulsive ADHD symptoms in high-risk cannabis users (n = 161). Age of first cannabis use was not significantly associated with any neurocognitive variables or ADHD symptomatology in all analyses. The current findings provide evidence of a link between current cannabis misuse and both hyperactive and inattentive ADHD symptoms in general, and possible links to attention and impulsive delay discounting in subgroups of cannabis users, but no associations in other cognitive domains or implication of earlier initiation of cannabis use in relation to cognitive performance or ADHD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Composing alarms: considering the musical aspects of auditory alarm design.

Short melodies are commonly linked to referents in jingles, ringtones, movie themes, and even auditory displays (i.e., sounds used in human-computer interactions). While melody associations can be quite effective, auditory alarms in medical devices are generally poorly learned and highly confused. Here, we draw on approaches and stimuli from both music cognition (melody recognition) and human factors (alarm design) to analyze the patterns of confusions in a paired-associate alarm-learning task involving both a standardized melodic alarm set (Experiment 1) and a set of novel melodies (Experiment 2). Although contour played a role in confusions (consistent with previous research), we observed several cases where melodies with similar contours were rarely confused - melodies holding musically distinctive features. This exploratory work suggests that salient features formed by an alarm's melodic structure (such as repeated notes, distinct contours, and easily recognizable intervals) can increase the likelihood of correct alarm identification. We conclude that the use of musical principles and features may help future efforts to improve the design of auditory alarms.

Resilience in families living with a child with a physical disability.

PURPOSE: The aim of this cross-sectional exploratory study was to identify qualities associated with resilience in families with a child with a physical disability. METHODS: Questionnaires (The Family Hardiness Index, The Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scales, The Relative and Friend Support Index, The Social Support Index, The Family Sense of Coherence Scale) and an open-ended question were used to collect data independently from parents and children belonging to 68 families. RESULTS: The following resources and qualities were identified by both the parents and the children: family hardiness, evaluation of a stressful situation as a challenge, positive redefinition of a stressful situation, the educational level of the parent, and the experience of social support. DISCUSSION: Help providers need to ensure that families are provided with information regarding qualities that can be developed, while families should be aware of formal and informal support networks that may assist them in their adaptation process. CONCLUSION: There are a number of qualities that came up as important to both the parents and children and family workers can help the family to identify an area of commonality to work on between the parents and children.