Depression and Uptake of Oral Anticoagulation Therapy in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation: A Danish Nationwide Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Oral anticoagulation therapy (OAT) in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) is a highly important preventive intervention, perhaps especially in those with comorbid depression, who have a worse prognosis. However, OAT may pose particular challenges in depressed patients. OBJECTIVES: To assess whether AF patients with depression have lower OAT uptake. METHODS: This nationwide register-based 2005-2016 cohort study of all Danes with AF and OAT indication (CHA2DS2VASc stroke risk score ≥2) assessed OAT initiation within 90 days in those with incident AF (N=147,162) and OAT prevalence in those with prevalent AF (N=192,656). The associations of depression with both outcomes were estimated in regression analyses with successive adjustment for socioeconomic characteristics and somatic and psychiatric comorbidity. RESULTS: Comorbid depression was significantly associated with lower frequency of OAT initiation in incident AF patients {adjusted proportion differences (aPDs): -6.6% [95% confidence interval (CI), -7.4 to -5.9]} and lower prevalence of OAT [aPD: -4.2% (95% CI, -4.7 to -3.8)] in prevalent AF patients. Yet, the OAT uptake increased substantially during the period, particularly in depressed patients [aPD for OAT prevalence in 2016: -0.8% (95% CI, -1.6 to -0.0)]. CONCLUSIONS: Comorbid depression was associated with a significantly lower OAT uptake in patients with AF, which questions whether depressed patients receive sufficient support to manage this consequential cardiac condition. However, a substantial increase in the overall OAT uptake and a decrease of the depression-associated deficit in OAT were seen over the period during which OAT was developed through the introduction of new oral anticoagulation therapy.

Maternal depression and primary healthcare use for children: a population-based cohort study in Denmark.

BACKGROUND: Depression is a common mental illness worldwide. The offspring of a mother with depression has higher risk of developing mental and physical illness. AIM: This study aimed to investigate the association between the timing of maternal depression and the use of primary health care for the offspring. DESIGN AND SETTING: A population-based birth cohort study in Danish primary care using Danish national registers. METHOD: All Danish children born between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2013 (n = 869 140 children) were included in the study. The primary outcome was number and type of annual contacts with the GP. The secondary outcome was specific services used by the GP to assess inflammatory and infectious disease in the children. Exposure was maternal depression of four categories: non-depressed, recent, previous, and past depression. The association was expressed as adjusted incidence rate ratios (IRR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: Maternal depression was associated with a higher use of primary health care for all three categories of depression. The strongest association was found for children of a mother with recent depression; they had 16% more contacts than children of a non-depressed mother (adjusted IRR = 1.16, 95% CI = 1.15 to 1.17), and 19-24% more positive infectious-related tests were found in this group. CONCLUSION: Exposure to maternal depression was associated with a significantly higher use of primary health care for the offspring for all exposure categories. These findings reveal that healthcare use is higher for the offspring exposed to maternal depression, even several years after expected remission. The higher ratio of positive tests indicates that exposed children are ill with infectious disease more often.

Physical activity and anomalous bodily experiences in patients with first-episode schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Low physical activity is strongly correlated with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and poor physical health. Although the prevalence of MetS is high in patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES), little is still known about the level of and possible barriers for physical activity in FES. AIM: The purpose of the study was to compare physical activity in patients with FES with healthy controls; to investigate changes in physical activity over 1 year of follow-up; and to explore the correlations of physical activity and anomalous bodily experiences reported by patients with FES. METHODS: Both physical activity and aerobic fitness were measured. Anomalous bodily experiences were measured by selected items from the Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience and The Body Awareness Scale. Psychopathological data comprising negative and positive symptoms and data on psychotropic medication were obtained from medical records of all patients. RESULTS: Physical activity and aerobic fitness was significantly lower in patients with FES compared with healthy controls (p < 0.001). Over 1 year of follow-up patients had lower physical activity and aerobic fitness. Patients with more severe anomalous bodily experiences had significantly lower physical activity compared with patients with fewer such experiences (p = 0.030). In linear regression analyses only negative symptoms were significantly correlated with low physical activity (ß = -0.88; 95% confidence interval = -1.48 to -0.29; p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Physical activity and aerobic fitness is low in patients with FES. Both anomalous bodily experiences and negative symptoms are significantly correlated with low physical activity.

Quality of life and clinical characteristics in a nonselected sample of patients with schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Patients with schizophrenia experience low quality of life (QOL). AIMS: To examine QOL in these patients and the relation between QOL and illness duration, adjusted daily doses (ADDs) of antipsychotics, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and smoking. METHODS: In this naturalistic, cross-sectional study, 82 patients were interviewed about smoking habits. Patients completed a QOL questionnaire (World Health Organization Quality of Life-Bref) consisting of physical, psychological, social and environmental domains and had height, weight and waist circumference measured. The characteristics and QOL were correlated using multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: QOL was significantly lower in the patients than in the general population (p < .01). In first-ever diagnosed patients, QOL was associated with BMI (regression coefficient (RC): physical -0.73, psychological -1.44 and environmental -0.55; all p < .05), ADD (RC: physical 3.71, psychological 4.37 and environmental 2.94; all p < .10) and smoking (RC: physical -0.69; p < .01). In the long-term ill patients, QOL was associated with BMI (RC: physical -1.19 and psychological -1.28; all p < .05) and illness duration (RC: physical 1.38; p < .05). CONCLUSION: Patients experienced low QOL. Lower QOL was associated with high BMI, low ADD and smoking in first-ever diagnosed patients and with high BMI and short illness duration in long-term ill patients.