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Substance use is a common public health problem among adolescents in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), however, factors that are associated with this condition are not clearly understood. The aim of the present study was to examine personal and interpersonal factors that contribute to risk for substance use among adolescents in six ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) LMICs (i.e., Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines and Thailand). Data of 57,825 adolescents (52.64% girls; median age = 14 years old) who participated in the Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) were analysed. After the weighted prevalence was estimated for each country, multilevel models were employed to examine the influence of the risk factors on the prevalence of substance use across the countries. The results indicated a high prevalence of substance use among adolescents in all these six ASEAN LMICs. Alcohol use, smoking and drug use were more prevalent among adolescents in Thailand, Laos and Philippines.Adolescents who were bullied and who had no close friends had a high prevalence of alcohol and drug use. Problematic drinking and smoking were more prevalent among older adolescents, and smoking and drug use were more prevalent among boys. Furthermore, frequent worry, loneliness and regular physical activity were found to predict adolescents’ heavy and binge drinking. This study contributed to knowledge on risk factors for specific substance use among adolescents and drew attention for the urgent need to strengthen the intervention, law policies and professional support for reducing substance use in ASEAN LMICs.

Introduction: Adolescence is a critical developmental stage for the initiation of substance use worldwide. However, the prevalence of various types of substances consumed by adolescents living in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) across different continents is not fully understood.The aims of the present study were to estimate the prevalence of regular and problematic substance use among adolescents in 73 LMICs across different continents and to explore the role of country-specific factors on this prevalence. Method: Data of 314,187 adolescents (52.79% girls; median age = 15 years old) who participated in the Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) were analysed. After estimating the weighted prevalence for each country, multilevel models were used to examine the influence of country-specific factors on the prevalence of substance use across 73 LMICs. Results: The results indicated that problematic alcohol use was more prevalent in LMICs with higher income levels. The prevalence of regular alcohol use was the highest in Zambia. Regular and problematic alcohol use was the least prevalent in Senegal and Myanmar. The findings also revealed that smoking and the consumption of marijuana and amphetamine were the most common among adolescents in Samoa, whereas the prevalences for these substances were the lowest in Laos. Conclusion: Economic wealth, religion and geographical factors seem to have a role in determining the prevalence of substance use among adolescents in LMICs.

Summary: Background: The rapid growth of the size of the older population is having a substantial effect on health and social care services in many societies across the world. Maintaining health and functioning in older age is a key public health issue but few studies have examined factors associated with inequalities in trajectories of health and functioning across countries. The aim of this study was to investigate trajectories of healthy ageing in older men and women (aged ≥45 years) and the effect of education and wealth on these trajectories. Methods: This population-based study is based on eight longitudinal cohorts from Australia, the USA, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, and Europe harmonised by the EU Ageing Trajectories of Health: Longitudinal Opportunities and Synergies (ATHLOS) consortium. We selected these studies from the repository of 17 ageing studies in the ATHLOS consortium because they reported at least three waves of collected data. We used multilevel modelling to investigate the effect of education and wealth on trajectories of healthy ageing scores, which incorporated 41 items of physical and cognitive functioning with a range between 0 (poor) and 100 (good), after adjustment for age, sex, and cohort study. Findings: We used data from 141 214 participants, with a mean age of 62·9 years (SD 10·1) and an age range of 45–106 years, of whom 76 484 (54·2%) were women. The earliest year of baseline data was 1992 and the most recent last follow-up year was 2015. Education and wealth affected baseline scores of healthy ageing but had little effect on the rate of decrease in healthy ageing score thereafter. Compared with those with primary education or less, participants with tertiary education had higher baseline scores (adjusted difference in score of 10·54 points, 95% CI 10·31–10·77). The adjusted difference in healthy ageing score between lowest and highest quintiles of wealth was 8·98 points (95% CI 8·74–9·22). Among the eight cohorts, the strongest inequality gradient for both education and wealth was found in the Health Retirement Study from the USA. Interpretation: The apparent difference in baseline healthy ageing scores between those with high versus low education levels and wealth suggests that cumulative disadvantage due to low education and wealth might have largely deteriorated health conditions in early life stages, leading to persistent differences throughout older age, but no further increase in ageing disparity after age 70 years. Future research should adopt a lifecourse approach to investigate mechanisms of health inequalities across education and wealth in different societies. Funding: European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme.

Introducción/Objetivos: Este informe breve tiene por objetivo poner a prueba dos predicciones derivadas de un reciente modelo sobre los resultados en psicoterapia: (a) solo un tratamiento de alta intensidad sería capaz de cambiar de dirección una trayectoria ascendente de ansiedad, y (b) tanto un tratamiento de alta como de baja intensidad podrían influir en una trayectoria noascendente de ansiedad. Método: Setenta y cuatro adolescentes (58,40% chicas; M= 14,65 a˜nos, = 0,53) fueron asignados aleatoriamente a una de estas condiciones: tratamiento de alta intensidad, tratamiento de baja intensidad o lista de espera. Resultados: Solo la aplicación del tratamiento de alta intensidad permitió reducir los niveles de ansiedad en los adolescentes con trayectoria creciente de dicha sintomatología (p < 0,01). Además, ambos tratamientos redujeron de forma equivalente la sintomatología en individuos con trayectoria no ascendente de ansiedad. Conclusiones: Estos resultados apoyan las predicciones teóricas propuestas y subrayan la necesidad de considerar no solamente la magnitud de la sintomatología ansiosa sino también su curso temporal, en contextos clínicos

Este estudio pretende conocer el efecto de los tratamientos psicológicos sobre la calidad de vida de pacientes y supervivientes de cáncer, así como la influencia moderadora de variables médicas y propias del tratamiento sobre dicho efecto. Para ello, se realizó un meta-análisis que incluyó 78 trabajos publicados entre 1970 y 2012. Se analizaron aspectos relacionados con la muestra, el tratamiento y la calidad metodológica de estos estudios. Como resultado, se encontró un tamano˜ del efecto significativo de los tratamientos psicológicos sobre la calidad de vida (g = 0,35). Dicho efecto estaba moderado por el estado clínico del paciente y la adyuvancia del tratamiento psicológico con el médico (p < 0,05). También se observó que mayores reducciones de sintomatología depresiva debidas al tratamiento llevaban a mayores beneficios sobre la calidad de vida según las meta-regresiones ejecutadas (R2 = 0,30). En conclusión, los tratamientos psicológicos pueden mejorar la calidad de vida de pacientes oncológicos, principalmente cuando deben afrontar tratamientos médicos, así como de los supervivientes. Además, cuando se reduce la sintomatología depresiva la calidad de vida suele mejorar. Estos resultados destacan la influencia decisiva de los tratamientos psicológicos para la salud integral en contextos oncológicos.

Introducción/Objetivo: Se ha asociado la existencia de sintomatología ansiosa con algunas propiedades lineales de la variabilidad cardiaca (VC), sin prestar demasiada atención a propiedades más esenciales del sistema cardiaco, como su naturaleza fractal. En este trabajo se pretendía evaluar si medidas de fractalidad (exponentes alométricos) y medi - das de VC (potencia en la banda de altas frecuencias, AF) permitían distinguir entre 24 adolescentes con alta sintomatología ansiosa y 26 adolescentes con baja. Además, se perseguía explorar las asociaciones de estas medidas con sensibilidad al castigo (SC), un factor de riesgo para ansiedad. Método: Se tomó la actividad cardiaca de los adolescen - tes en contexto ecológico y se calcularon dichas medidas sobre registros de 90 minutos. Resultados: Se encontraron exponentes alométricos significativamente mayores para los adolescentes con alta ansiedad ( p < 0,05), sin observarse diferencias significativas en potencia de AF ( p = 0,057). Además, sólo se encontraron correlaciones positivas significa - tivas entre los exponentes alométricos con SC, y dichos exponentes con varias escalas de ansiedad. Conclusiones: Estos resultados muestran que propiedades más básicas del sis - tema cardiaco parecen estar alteradas en adolescentes ansiosos más allá de la mera in - fluencia parasimpática. Estas propiedades pueden aportar información relevante para la detección y prevención de trastornos de ansiedad.

Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Social dysfunction represents one of the most common signs of neuropsychiatric disorders, such as Schizophrenia (SZ) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Perturbed socioaffective neural processing is crucially implicated in SZ/AD and generally linked to social dysfunction. Yet, transdiagnostic properties of social dysfunction and its neurobiological underpinnings remain unknown. As part of the European PRISM project, we examined whether social dysfunction maps onto shifts within socioaffective brain systems across SZ and AD patients. We probed coupling of social dysfunction with socioaffective neural processing, as indexed by an implicit facial emotional processing fMRI task, across SZ (N = 46), AD (N = 40) and two age-matched healthy control (HC) groups (N = 26 HC-younger and N = 27 HC-older). Behavioural (i.e., social withdrawal, interpersonal dysfunction, diminished prosocial or recreational activity) and subjective (i.e., feelings of loneliness) aspects of social dysfunction were assessed using the Social Functioning Scale and De Jong-Gierveld loneliness questionnaire, respectively. Across SZ/AD/HC participants, more severe behavioural social dysfunction related to hyperactivity within fronto-parieto-limbic brain systems in response to sad emotions (P = 0.0078), along with hypoactivity of these brain systems in response to happy emotions (P = 0.0418). Such relationships were not found for subjective experiences of social dysfunction. These effects were independent of diagnosis, and not confounded by clinical and sociodemographic factors. In conclusion, behavioural aspects of social dysfunction across SZ/AD/HC participants are associated with shifts within fronto-parieto-limbic brain systems. These findings pinpoint altered socioaffective neural processing as a putative marker for social dysfunction, and could aid personalized care initiatives grounded in social behaviour., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Dr. Arango has been a consultant to or has received honoraria or grants from Acadia, Angelini, Biogen, Boehringer, Gedeon Richter, Janssen Cilag, Lundbeck, Medscape, Menarini, Minerva, Otsuka, Pfizer, Roche, Sage, Servier, Shire, Schering Plough, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma, Sunovion and Takeda. AM and GRD are full-time employees of P1vital Ltd. GRD is an owner and shareholder of P1vital Ltd. and P1vital Products Ltd. ACB is an employee of P1vital Products Ltd. All other authors declare that they have nothing to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The COVID-19 pandemic has compromised public health response across the globe. Several countries reported increasing number of suicides during the pandemic. This study aimed to analyze the suicide mortality series in Spain (2000-2021), with a particular interest in depicting longitudinal trends during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, it intended to identify sociodemographic groups with a higher increase in suicide victims during the pandemic. To do so, suicide cases from the National death index data were used. Weighted annual mortality rate was compared between pre-pandemic and pandemic years. Poisson time series models were used to analyze the trend in suicide mortality, considering sociodemographic variables (sex, age, migration status, marital status, and urbanicity). As a result, weighted mortality rate for 2020 was 8.92 (CI 95 = [8.29, 9.57]) and 9.21 for 2021 (CI 95 = [8.56, 9.88]). Annual mortality from the pandemic years was significantly higher than mortality from the prepandemic ones (p < .01). Poisson regression revealed a significant increase of cases during the pandemic months, RR = 1.05 (CI 95 = [1.02, 1.08]); being significant for both sexes, and migration groups (RR > 1.02, across series). A significantly increased number of suicides was also observed for mid-age adults, large urban areas, and single people (RR > 1.05, across series). To sum up, our study supports an increasing number of suicide victims in Spain during the pandemic. We show that the COVID-19 influence on suicide risk factors (e.g., lack of social support networks) plays a critical role in the increasing trend of specific sociodemographic groups., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Suicidal behavior is an important public health problem, with a high prevalence in penitentiary context. Nowadays, there is a wide variety of specific treatment programs, aimed to prevent suicidal and self-injurious behavior in incarcerated people. These programs show relative efficiency depending on the model of the psychological intervention applied. This systematic review evaluates the efficiency of suicidal and self-injurious behavior prevention programs in prisons., Method: Empirical studies, evaluating prevention programs for suicidal and self-injurious behavior in penitentiary context were considered for inclusion. PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) directives were followed. Studies from 1990 to 2022 were reviewed, based on the review developed by Winicov (2019) that covered the time lapse between 1990 and 2015. Articles from 2015 to 2022 were located by database research (EBSCOHost, ScienceDirect, PubMed & ProQuest)., Results: 44,050 potential studies were identified. Eighteen were included in this systematic review (9 studies by Winicov, 2019). 14 studies showed efficacy of intervention programs on self-injury behavior. The use of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) reduced suicidal ideation. In addition, positive results were observed in 3 studies using third-generation therapies as an intervention., Conclusions: Suicidal and self-injurious behavior in prison shows lower levels of incidence when specific treatment programs are applied. It's crucial to increase the evaluation in relation to the implementation of new treatment models (i.e., Dialectical Behavior Therapy - DBT, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy - ACT, Mindfulness, Functional Analytic Psychotherapy - FAP) as to better orientate prevention strategies. Further research is needed in gender sensitive interventions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they do not have any conflict of interest to be disclosed., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Nonlinear measures can capture the complex structure of the heart beating, and recordings taken while the individual performs daily activities may help to understand the cardiac system's output in natural conditions. As healthy systems are characterized by having highly complex outputs, we hypothesized that the cardiac output from high anxious adolescents should be less complex than the output from their low anxious counterparts. In this study ECG was recorded for two hours in 50 adolescents while they performed regular school activities. Fractal dimension (FD), scaling exponents and multiscale entropy were calculated on the interbeat intervals time series. Both FD and entropy were significantly lower in the high-anxious group than the low-anxious group. These results suggest different heart-related regulation in adolescents who suffered from high anxious symptomatology., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)