Depression during pregnancy can affect health, but living in green spaces can alleviate symptoms and lead to happier and healthier mothers. To read the full article, log in using your NHS Athens
Background Several cross-sectional studies have demonstrated associations between diet quality, including fruit and vegetable consumption, and mental health. However, research examining these associations longitudinally, while accounting for related lifestyle factors (eg, smoking, physical activity) is scarce. To read the full article, log in using your NHS Athens
Open access. Epilepsy is a serious condition which can profoundly affect an individual’s life. While there is some evidence to suggest an association between antidepressant use and epilepsy and seizures it is conflicting and not conclusive. Antidepressant prescribing is rising in the UK so it is important to quantify absolute risks with individual antidepressants to enable shared decision making with patients. In this study we assess and quantify the association between antidepressant treatment and the risk of epilepsy and seizures in a large cohort of patients diagnosed with depression aged between 20 and 64 years.
Objective To identify information priorities for consumers and clinicians making depression treatment decisions and assess shared decision-making (SDM) in routine depression care. Open Access Article
ABSTRACT FROM: Shin JY, Park MJ, Lee SH, et al. Risk of intracranial haemorrhage in antidepressant users with concurrent use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: nationwide propensity score matched study. BMJ 2015;351:h3517. To read the full commentary, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
ABSTRACT FROM: Maselko J, Sikander S, Bhalotra S, et al. Effect of an early perinatal depression intervention on long-term child development outcomes: follow-up of the Thinking Healthy Programme randomised controlled trial. Lancet Psychiatry 2015;2:609–17. To read the full commentary, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
Open access. Depression affects a considerable proportion (12–25 %) of adolescents and so-called emerging adults (ages of 18 and 25). The aims of this study were to explore the relationship between perceived social support and depression in a sample of emerging adults, and subsequently to identify the type of social support young people consider most helpful in dealing with this type of emotional distress.
A study of previous data suggests the commonly used antidepressant paroxetine may increase the risk of defects by around a quarter.
The researchers pooled data from 23 studies which compared women who took paroxetine during the first three months of their pregnancy, with women who did not. It found that the small overall risk of birth defects was 23% higher. This takes the overall risk to approximately 3.69% for women who had taken paroxetine at this time.
Based on the type of studies included, we cannot be sure the effect was due to the drug or other factors, such as the woman's depression or other factors linked to it.
Mental Elf Blog post. In this study (Weitz et al, 2015), the team wanted to find out whether baseline depression severity moderated the effect of pharmacotherapy (ADM – antidepressant medication) compared to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Simply put, is one treatment better than the other depending on how severe depression is to begin with?
Mental Elf Blog post. It is now an increasingly well accepted truism that the origins of mental illness often lie in childhood and adolescence. Most psychological and psychiatric problems present for the first time before the age of 18 years, and even for the remainder there is often a link to important early life risk factors, such as child maltreatment and other psychological or economic adversities.
However, acknowledging that, and doing something useful about it to prevent future mental health problems are different things. To be able to successfully intervene early we need to be able to offer interventions that are effective, acceptable to patients/service users and cost-effective. We also need to work out who these interventions should be offered to.
Depression and neuropathy are frequent complications of type 2 diabetes. The current meta-analysis aimed to estimate the association between depression and neuropathy in subjects with type 2 diabetes. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - request a copy of the article from the library - www.sssft.nhs.uk/library