A5083925582- Health, Environment, Cognitive Aging
- Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Birth, Development, and Health
- Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Health disparities and outcomes
- Smoking Behavior and Cessation
- Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research
- Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals
- Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Epigenetics and DNA Methylation
- Bipolar Disorder and Treatment
- Adolescent and Pediatric Healthcare
- Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Schizophrenia research and treatment
- Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock
- Nutrition, Genetics, and Disease
- Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues
- Fatty Acid Research and Health
- Diet and metabolism studies
- Infant Development and Preterm Care
- Folate and B Vitamins Research
- Mental Health Research Topics
MRC Epidemiology Unit
2014-2025
University of Bristol
2016-2025
Medical Research Council
2021-2024
Centre for Mental Health
2015-2023
The University of Queensland
2023
UK Centre for Tobacco & Alcohol Studies
2017-2022
Manchester Metropolitan University
2022
University of Notre Dame
2022
University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust
2019-2021
NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre
2021
Abstract Background Smoking prevalence is higher amongst individuals with schizophrenia and depression compared the general population. Mendelian randomisation (MR) can examine whether this association causal using genetic variants identified in genome-wide studies (GWAS). Methods We conducted two-sample MR to explore bi-directional effects of smoking on depression. For behaviour, we used (1) initiation GWAS from GSCAN consortium (2) our own lifetime behaviour (which captures duration,...
Cannabis use is associated with an earlier age of onset psychosis (AOP). However, the reasons for this remain debated. Methods: We applied a Cox proportional hazards model to 410 first-episode patients investigate association between gender, patterns cannabis use, and AOP. Results: Patients history presented their first episode at younger (mean years = 28.2, SD 8.0; median 27.1) than those who never used 31.4, 9.9; 30.0; hazard ratio [HR] 1.42; 95% CI: 1.16–1.74; P < .001). This remained...
It is often assumed that selection (including participation and dropout) does not represent an important source of bias in genetic studies. However, there little evidence to date on the effect factors participation.Using data mothers (N = 7486) children 7508) from Avon Longitudinal Study Parents Children, we: (i) examined association polygenic risk scores for a range sociodemographic lifestyle characteristics health conditions related continued participation; (ii) investigated whether...
Background Conflicting evidence has emerged regarding the relevance of smoking on risk COVID-19 and its severity. Methods We undertook large-scale observational Mendelian randomisation (MR) analyses using UK Biobank. Most recent status was determined from primary care records (70.8%) Biobank questionnaire data (29.2%). outcomes were derived Public Health England SARS-CoV-2 testing data, hospital admissions death certificates (until 18 August 2020). Logistic regression used to estimate...
Analysis of secondary data sources (such as cohort studies, survey data, and administrative records) has the potential to provide answers science society's most pressing questions. However, researcher biases can lead questionable research practices in analysis, which distort evidence base. While pre-registration help protect against biases, it presents challenges for analysis. In this article, we describe these propose novel solutions alternative approaches. Proposed include approaches (1)...
Depression is a common mental illness and research has focused on late childhood adolescence in an attempt to prevent or reduce later psychopathology and/or social impairments. It important establish study population-averaged trajectories of depressive symptoms across as this could characterise specific changes populations help identify critical points intervene with treatment. Multilevel growth-curve models were used explore adolescent 9301 individuals (57% female) from the Avon...
Abstract Attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has consistently been associated with substance use, but the nature of this association is not fully understood. To inform intervention development and public health messages, a vital question whether there are causal pathways from ADHD to use and/or vice versa. We applied bidirectional Mendelian randomization, using summary‐level data largest available genome‐wide studies (GWAS) on ADHD, smoking (initiation, cigarettes per day,...
Background There is increasing evidence that smoking a risk factor for severe mental illness, including bipolar disorder. Conversely, patients with disorder might smoke more (often) as result of the psychiatric Aims We conducted bidirectional Mendelian randomisation (MR) study to investigate direction and causal nature relationship between Method used publicly available summary statistics from genome-wide association studies on disorder, initiation, heaviness, cessation lifetime (i.e....
Background Internalising and externalising problems commonly co‐occur in childhood. Yet, few developmental models describing the structure of child psychopathology appropriately account for this comorbidity. We evaluate a model childhood that separates unique shared contribution individual psychological symptoms into specific internalising, general factors assess how these predict long‐term outcomes concerning criminal behaviour, academic achievement affective three independent cohorts....
ObjectiveFew studies have attempted to identify how distinct dimensions of maternal prenatal affective symptoms relate offspring psychopathology. We defined latent women's and pregnancy-specific worries examine their association with early psychopathology in three cohorts.MethodData were used from cohorts the DREAM-BIG consortium: Avon Longitudinal Study Parents Children (ALSPAC [N = 12,515]), Generation R (N 6,803), Canadian cohort Maternal Adversity, Vulnerability, Neurodevelopment (MAVAN...
Inflammation is associated with cognitive functioning and dementia in older adults, but whether inflammation related to youth these associations are causal remains unclear. In a population-based cohort (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents Children; ALSPAC), we investigated cross-sectional inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein [CRP], Interleukin-6 [IL-6] Glycoprotein acetyls [GlycA]) measures cold (working memory, response inhibition) hot (emotion recognition) cognition at age 24 (N = 3,305...