Browsing by Author "Borges, G."

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    Childhood generalized specific phobia as an early marker of internalizing psychopathology across the lifespan: results from the World Mental Health Surveys
    (BioMed Central (BMC), 2019) de Vries, Y. A.; Al-Hamzawi, A.; Alonso, J.; Borges, G.; Bruffaerts, R.; Bunting, B.; Caldas-de-Almeida, J. M.; Cia, A. H.; De Girolamo, G.; Dinolova, R. V.; Esan, O. B.; Florescu, S.; Gureje, O.; Haro, J. M.; Hu, C.; Karam, E. G.; Karam, A.; Kawakami, N.; Kiejna, A.; Kovess-Masfety, V.; WHO World Mental Health Survey Collaborators
    Background: Specific phobia (SP) is a relatively common disorder associated with high levels of psychiatric comorbidity. Because of its early onset, SP may be a useful early marker of internalizing psychopathology, especially if generalized to multiple situations. This study aimed to evaluate the association of childhood generalized SP with comorbid internalizing disorders. Methods: We conducted retrospective analyses of the cross-sectional population-based World Mental Health Surveys using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Outcomes were lifetime prevalence, age of onset, and persistence of internalizing disorders; past-month disability; lifetime suicidality; and 12-month serious mental illness. Logistic and linear regressions were used to assess the association of these outcomes with the number of subtypes of childhood-onset (< 13 years) SP. Results: Among 123,628 respondents from 25 countries, retrospectively reported prevalence of childhood SP was 5.9%, 56% of whom reported one, 25% two, 10% three, and 8% four or more subtypes. Lifetime prevalence of internalizing disorders increased from 18.2% among those without childhood SP to 46.3% among those with one and 75.6% those with 4+ subtypes (OR=2.4, 95% CI 2.3–2.5, p< 0.001). Conclusions: This large international study shows that childhood-onset generalized SP is related to adverse outcomes in the internalizing domain throughout the life course. Comorbidity, persistence, and severity of internalizing disorders all increased with the number of childhood SP subtypes. Although our study cannot establish whether SP is causally associated with these poor outcomes or whether other factors, such as a shared underlying vulnerability, explain the association, our findings clearly show that childhood generalized SP identifies an important target group for early intervention.
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    Parental psychopathology and the risk of suicidal behavior in their offspring: results from the world mental health surveys
    (Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2011) Gureje, O.; Oladeji, B.; Hwang, I.; Chiu, W. T.; Kessler, R. C.; Sampson, N. A.; Alonso, J.; Andrade, L. H.; Beautrais, A.; Borges, G.; Bromet, E.; Bruffaerts, R.; de Girolamo, G.; de Graaf, R.; Gal, G.; He, Y.; Hu, C.; Iwata, N.; Karam, E. G.; Kovess-Masféty, V.; Matschinger, H.; Moldovan, M. V.; Posada-Villa, J.; Sagar, R.; Scocco, P.; Seedat, S.; Tomov, T.; Nock, M. K.
    Previous research suggests that parental psychopathology predicts suicidal behavior among offspring; however, the more fine-grained associations between specific parental disorders and distinct stages of the pathway to suicide are not well understood. We set out to test the hypothesis that parental disorders associated with negative mood would predict offspring suicide ideation, whereas disorders characterized by impulsive aggression (for example, antisocial personality) and anxiety/agitation (for example, panic disorder) would predict which offspring act on their suicide ideation and make a suicide attempt. Data were collected during face-to-face interviews conducted on nationally representative samples (N= 55 299; age 18þ) from 21 countries around the world. We tested the associations between a range of parental disorders and the onset and persistence over time (that is, time since most recent episode controlling for age of onset and time since onset) of subsequent suicidal behavior (suicide ideation, plans and attempts) among offspring. Analyses tested bivariate and multivariate associations between each parental disorder and distinct forms of suicidal behavior. Results revealed that each parental disorder examined increased the risk of suicide ideation among offspring, parental generalized anxiety and depression emerged as the only predictors of the onset and persistence (respectively) of suicide plans among offspring with ideation, whereas parental antisocial personality and anxiety disorders emerged as the only predictors of the onset and persistence of suicide attempts among ideators. A dose-response relation between parental disorders and respondent risk of suicide ideation and attempt was also found. Parental death by suicide was a particularly strong predictor of persistence of suicide attempts among offspring. These associations remained significant after controlling for comorbidity of parental disorders and for the presence of mental disorders among offspring. These findings should inform future explorations of the mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of suicidal behavior.