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Quality of life and self-esteem in 7-year-old children with familial high risk of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder: the Danish High Risk and Resilience Study-VIA 7—a population-based cohort study

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Abstract

It is well established that children with familial high risk of schizophrenia (FHR-SZ) or bipolar disorder (FHR-BP) have a higher risk of developing mental disorders, however, little is known of to what degree the genetic and environmental vulnerabilities affect the quality of life and self-esteem of these children. We aimed to compare the quality of life and self-esteem between children with FHR-SZ or FHR-BP and controls. We used Danish nationwide registers to retrieve a cohort of 522 7-year-old children with FHR-SZ or FHR-BP and controls. Quality of life was assessed with the ‘Health-related Quality of Life Screening Instrument’, KIDSCREEN-27, and the scale ‘Social Acceptance (Bullying)’ from the KIDSCREEN-52. Self-esteem was assessed with the self-report scale ‘I think I am’. Assessors were blind to familial risk status of the children. Children with FHR-SZ displayed lower levels of the general quality of life, as well as lower scores on the ‘Psychological Well-being’ scale and the ‘School Environment’ scale of the KIDSCREEN-27 compared with controls. Both children with FHR-SZ and FHR-BP reported more bullying victimization compared with controls. Children with FHR-SZ reported lower self-esteem on the total scale of ‘I think I am’, as well as on the ‘Skills and talents’, the ‘Psychological well-being’, and the ‘Relationships with others’ subscales compared with controls. The findings of lower quality of life and self-esteem in children with FHR-SZ together with more bullying victimization in both familial high-risk groups call for studies on low risk, early intervention strategies towards this group of vulnerable children.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the families participating in the study. Mette Skjærbæk, Heidi Jensen, Marianne Melau, Cecilie Gregersen, Henriette Stadsgaard, Kate Zahle, and Maria Henriksen contributed to data collection. Carsten Bøcker Pedersen and Marianne Giørtz Pedersen retrieved the register extract. Jessica Ohland and Manon Chaine contributed to data management. MD Jamal Uddin gave statistical advice. This work was supported by the Mental Health services of the Capital Region of Denmark, the Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH) (Grant nos. R102-A9118 and R155-2014-1724), Aarhus University, and the Beatrice Surovell Haskell Fund for Child Mental Health Research of Copenhagen (Grant no. J.NR 11531).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Copenhagen Research Center for Mental Health-CORE, Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Kildegaardsvej 28, 2900, Hellerup, Denmark

    Ditte Ellersgaard, Maja Gregersen, Anne Ranning, Camilla Christiani, Nicoline Hemager, Anne Søndergaard, Jens R. M. Jepsen & Merete Nordentoft

  2. The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH), Copenhagen, Denmark

    Ditte Ellersgaard, Maja Gregersen, Anne Ranning, Camilla Christiani, Nicoline Hemager, Birgitte Klee Burton, Katrine Soeborg Spang, Anne Søndergaard, Aja Greve, Ditte Gantriis, Jens R. M. Jepsen, Ole Mors, Kerstin J. Plessen, Merete Nordentoft & Anne A. E. Thorup

  3. Institute of Biological Psychiatry, Mental Health Centre Sct. Hans, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Thilde M. Haspang

  4. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre, Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Birgitte Klee Burton, Katrine Soeborg Spang, Jens R. M. Jepsen, Kerstin J. Plessen & Anne A. E. Thorup

  5. Psychosis Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark

    Aja Greve, Ditte Gantriis & Ole Mors

  6. Center for Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research and Center for Clinical Intervention and Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research, Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark , Copenhagen, Denmark

    Jens R. M. Jepsen

  7. Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Kerstin J. Plessen

  8. Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Merete Nordentoft & Anne A. E. Thorup

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  1. Ditte Ellersgaard
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Correspondence to Ditte Ellersgaard.

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Ellersgaard, D., Gregersen, M., Ranning, A. et al. Quality of life and self-esteem in 7-year-old children with familial high risk of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder: the Danish High Risk and Resilience Study-VIA 7—a population-based cohort study. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 29, 849–860 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-019-01397-3

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