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Epidemiological research in psychiatry has numerous applications. Our favorite is addressing the complexity within and among common mental disorders (CMD). A research direction within this framework involves determining subtypes of disorders (e.g. through comorbidity patterns), identifying their specific risk mechanisms (e.g. through biomarkers) and, finally, ultimately assembling the complete picture. Currently, we are struggling to gain a better understanding of the impact of immunological mechanisms related to atopic diseases on brain development a functioning, and distinguishing them from immunological mechanisms induced by other mechanisms. Similarly, we are examining the interferences between stress and trauma (e.g. adverse childhood experiences) and immunological shifts regarding their impact on CMD.
In parallel, we develop new methodological tools to handle the complexity and heterogeneity of specific CMD. The primary methodological approach to addressing heterogeneity is subtyping, which encompasses many different variants and perspectives. A recent example from our work is a backdating procedure for biomarkers that focuses on trauma and PTSD. The procedure relies on the fact that many biomarkers get "frozen" across the life span – in this instance, after a traumatic experience. The backdating procedure shows which physiological systems and risk mechanisms are persistently activated by traumatic experiences interfering with different developmental stages. Although initially developed for PTSD, the procedure is applicable to any CMD.
Currently, we are developing a comprehensive analysis model to simultaneously and comparatively integrate information from different severity forms of a mental disorder (e.g. subthreshold / full disorder matched with persistent / non-persistent course). While our focus is on neurodevelopmental disorders (ADHD, stuttering), the model is again applicable to any CMD. Further research directions include the epidemiology of suicide, comparative analyses between CMD and chronic inflammatory diseases (skin diseases, autoimmune disorders), and psychological and somatic factors related to resilience.
This research mainly relies on big data bases from Swiss epidemiological surveys (Zurich Study of Jules Angst, the ZInEP Epidemiology Survey, CoLaus|PsyCoLaus from Lausanne).
Yanhua Xu
PhD student
e-mail: yanhua.xu@uzh.ch
Xu Y, Ajdacic-Gross V, Müller M, Buadze A, Seifritz E, Kleim B, von Känel R, Wagner EN, Strippoli MF, Castelao E, Preisig M, Vandeleur CL. Childhood adversity patterns differentially cluster with mental disorders and socioeconomic indicators in a large Swiss community sample. Compr Psychiatry. 2022 Jan;112:152282. doi: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2021.152282.
Xu Y, Vandeleur C, Müller M, Seifritz E, Kleim B, von Känel R, Wagner EN, Strippoli MF, Castelao E, Gholamrezaee MM, Preisig M, Ajdacic-Gross V. Retrospectively assessed trajectories of PTSD symptoms and their subsequent comorbidities. J Psychiatr Res. 2021 Apr;136:71-79. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.01.049.
Ajdacic-Gross, V., Ajdacic, L., Xu, Y., Müller, M., Rodgers, S., Wyss, C., ... & von Känel, R. (2021). Backtracing persistent biomarker shifts to the age of onset: A novel procedure applied to men’s and women’s white blood cell counts in post-traumatic stress disorder. Biomarkers in Neuropsychiatry, 4, 100030. doi: 10.1016/j.bionps.2021.100030
Tesic A, Rodgers S, Müller M, Wagner EN, von Känel R, Castelao E, Strippoli MF, Vandeleur CL, Seifritz E, Preisig M, Ajdacic-Gross V. Sex differences in neurodevelopmental and common mental disorders examined from three epidemiological perspectives. Psychiatry Res. 2019 Aug;278:213-217. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2019.06.019.
Ajdacic-Gross V, Hepp U, Seifritz E, Bopp M. Rethinking suicides as mental accidents: Towards a new paradigm. J Affect Disord. 2019 Jun 1;252:141-151. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2019.04.022.
Ajdacic-Gross V, Mutsch M, Rodgers S, Tesic A, Müller M, Seifritz E, Wagner EN, von Känel R, Landolt MA, Steinemann N, von Wyl V, Castelao E, Strippoli MF, Glaus J, Vandeleur C, Marques-Vidal PM, Vollenweider P, Preisig M. A step beyond the hygiene hypothesis – immune-mediated classes determined in a population-based study. BMC Med. 2019 Apr 9;17(1):75. doi: 10.1186/s12916-019-1311-z.
Bartsch C, Landolt K, Ristic A, Reisch T, Ajdacic-Gross V. Assisted Suicide in Switzerland: An Analysis of Death Records From Swiss Institutes of Forensic Medicine. Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2019 Aug 9;116(33-34):545-552. doi: 10.3238/arztebl.2019.0545.
Ajdacic-Gross V, Bechtiger L, Rodgers S, Müller M, Kawohl W, von Känel R, Mutsch M, Rössler W, Seifritz E, Castelao E, Strippoli MF, Vandeleur C, Preisig M, Howell P. Subtypes of stuttering determined by latent class analysis in two Swiss epidemiological surveys. PLoS One. 2018 Aug 7;13(8):e0198450. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0198450.