Depression in Sardinian immigrants in Argentina and residents in Sardinia at the time of the Argentinian default (2001) and the Great Recession in Italy (2015)

Associations between migration experience and perceived mental health in optimal ageing: Evidence from the Sardinian Blue Zone

The effect of migration on perceived mental health has not been examined in older migrants after their return to their places of origin. This study was mainly aimed at evaluating the perceived mental health of older people who experienced migration and permanent resident peers living in the Sardinian Blue Zone (i.e. one of the four areas of exceptional longevity in the world). Forty‐eight community‐based older participants (32 males and 16 females) with and without a migration experience were recruited in two villages of the Sardinian Blue Zone and completed a battery of self‐report inventories assessing psychological well‐being, negative mood, and ego resilience. Older individuals who experienced migration reported higher ego resilience and exhibited greater resources used to manage positive emotionality (i.e. openness to life experiences). Moreover, compared to the normative data, both the groups reported higher psychological well‐being and fewer depressive symptoms. Finally, no significant associations were found between the length of migration and each mental health index. In conclusion, resilience seems to represent a psychological trait that helps to manage stressful events and contributes to the preservation of perceived mental health in late adulthood.

Impact of Season of Birth on Psychiatric Disorder Susceptibility and Drug Abuse Incidence in a Population from the Köppen Tropical Savanna Region of Brazil

BACKGROUND

Despite much evidence that season of birth (SOB) my influence the vulnerability to psychiatric disorders, divergence has been reported, in particular between populations born in the northern and southern hemispheres. We analyzed the potential modified risk by SOB to psychiatric disorder or drug addiction comorbidity in a population born in the Triângulo Mineiro region, a southern hemisphere Köppen tropical savanna region in Brazil.

METHOD

We accessed the records of 98,457 of patients and healthy controls of the National Datacenter of Medical Promptuary to evaluate the influence of SOB as a modifying factor on the occurrence of mental disorders and drug abuse conditions among individuals born from the year 2000 to 2016.

RESULTS

The data revealed significant modification of the relative incidence of major depressive disorder (MDD) (F11, 72 = 2.898; p = 0.003; eta-squared, ES = 0.313; ⍺ = 0.97), anxiety-related disorder (ARD) (F11, 81 =2.389; p = 0.013; ES = 0.241; ⍺ = 0.932), and schizophrenia (SZ) (F11, 83 = 2.764; p = 0.005; ES = 0.303; α = 0.963), while there was no increase in the number of healthy controls born in any month of the year (F11, 71 = 1.469; p = 0.163). Post hoc analyses indicated a significant higher vulnerability to MDD or ARD if the patient was born in August, or October to December, respectively. A relative increase in the incidence of SZ was also observed in patients born from August to October, compared to patients born from November to January.

CONCLUSIONS

SOB may influence the risk for psychiatric disorders in the TMR population. Regional particularities associated with the climatic regime may account for the apparent divergence between studies.

Genetic Variants Involved in Bipolar Disorder, a Rough Road Ahead

BACKGROUND

Bipolar Disorder (BD), along with depression and schizophrenia, is one of the most serious mental illnesses, and one of the top 20 causes of severe impairment in everyday life. Recent molecular studies, using both traditional approaches and new procedures such as Whole-Genome Sequencing (WGS), have suggested that genetic factors could significantly contribute to the development of BD, with heritability estimates of up to 85%. However, it is assumed that BD is a multigenic and multifactorial illness with environmental factors that strongly contribute to disease development/progression, which means that progress in genetic knowledge of BD might be difficult to interpret in clinical practice.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study is to provide a synthetic description of the main SNPs variants identified/confirmed by recent extensive WGS analysis as well as by reconstruction in an in vitro mechanism or by amygdala activation protocol in vivo.

METHOD

Bibliographic data, genomic and protein Data Banks were consulted so as to carry out a cross genomic study for mutations, SNPs and chromosomal alterations described in these studies in BD patients.

RESULTS

Fifty-five different mutations have been described in 30 research papers by different genetic analyses including recent WGS analysis. Many of these studies have led to the discovery of the most probable susceptibility genes for BD, including ANK3, CACNA1C, NCAN, ODZ4, SYNE1, and TRANK1. Exploration has started the role of several of these mutations in BD pathophysiology using in vitro and animal models.

CONCLUSION

Although new genomic research technology in BD opens up new possibilities, the current results for common variants are still controversial because of four broad conditions: analytical validity, clinical validity, clinical utility and a reasonable cost for genetic analysis are not yet accessible.