Proposal summaries
B3326 - Mental Health in Autism Spectrum Disorders Secondary data analysis across a range of population-based datasets - 18/06/2019
Recent research studies estimate approximately 75-80% of autistic individuals will experience mental health problems during their lifetime, compared to 25% of the non-autistic population (Autistica, 2018). Additional mental health problems add burden to those with ASD, their carers and their wider family. Research highlighting the elevated rates of suicide and self-harm among those with ASD make clear the extent and possible effects of mental health difficulties for this group, with research by both Cassidy et al. (2014) and Culpin et al. (2018) identifying depression as a key factor in the suicidal ideation and self-harm shown by those on the autism spectrum.
Current knowledge of mental health problems in ASD is patchy, inconsistent and often contradictory, owing in part on the reliance on clinic-based samples and non-systematic assessments of difficulties. In order to gain a more accurate picture of the rates and patterns of additional mental health problems, population-based research is needed. The proposed study aims to provide a comprehensive secondary data analysis of the existing information on mental health problems accompanying ASD in five population-based studies. The study aims to examine the types of mental health problems experienced by those with ASD, the developmental course of difficulties, risk and protective factors, possible gender differences (including issues surrounding later diagnosis for females) and impact on wellbeing and life outcomes, with the hope of improving recognition and treatment of mental health in ASD.
Secondary data analysis has been chosen to tackle this topic area as a wide range of studies have included measures of mental health and ASD as part of research programmes and these data are available to be examined, thereby negating the need to cause potential burden or stress to those with ASD by creating new studies to focus specifically on this area. In addition, combining existing datasets will give an unprecedented sample size, giving greater statistical power to provide valid results.
B3327 - Participants Attitudes Towards Data Sharing - 14/06/2019
This study examines attitudes of participants who have taken part in health research studies towards data sharing. Data sharing refers to researchers sharing study data at the end of a study with other researchers for further research.
I have designed a questionnaire to capture participant attitudes, drawing on questions asked in previous research (outwith the UK) on this topic.
Little research has been conducted exploring the attitudes of study participants to this sharing of their data and what limited findings there are, largely relate to settings outside of the UK. Although participants may give their consent for their data to be shared when they join a research study, they may not fully understand what this means.
By asking study participants to complete a questionnaire about data sharing we can find out what their attitudes towards it are.
The survey will be distributed to as wide a variety of participants as possible (both in terms of location and type of study they
took part in). This increases the generalisability of the results- they are more likely to apply to the wider population.
It is hoped that the data collected in the survey will show what participants attitudes are likely to be- how they would prefer to
consent to data sharing, how much information about it they would like at the beginning of a study and if they have any
concerns about the concept and processes. This information could then be used by researchers to modify the consent process, the way in which data sharing is explained to participants or the way in which data is shared.
B3325 - Maternal iodine status and hearing in the offspring - 06/06/2019
Iodine is required for the production of thyroid hormones which are essential for hearing function and ear development during pregnancy. While severe iodine deficiency in pregnancy is known to cause deafness (as in cretinism), less is known about the effect of mild-to-moderate iodine deficiency on hearing function. In the UK, pregnant women are classified as mildly-to-moderately iodine deficient and we have previously shown in the ALSPAC cohort that this is significantly associated with lower IQ and reading scores at 8-9 years.
B3324 - Intensive Mothering and Maternal Physical Health - 03/06/2019
Women spend far more time with their children today than in the past several decades, a result of pressure to âintensively mother,â or devote significant time, energy, and resources to raising children. This high cost to parenting creates tensions between investment in children and investment in self. In this study, I will analyze physical health consequences of intensive mothering for mothers. In doing so, this project will advance understandings of women's health, prosperity, and welfare. If certain individuals experience the worst (or best) health consequences of intensive mothering, more nuanced information on this topic will allow for tailored interventions for specific groups of women. This research will enhance both formal health policies and more informal advocacy for maternal self-care.
B3323 - Longitudinal genome-wide association study of bone accrual in ALSPAC - 03/06/2019
While many genetic loci are known to be associated with adult areal bone mineral density (aBMD), less is known about genetic determinants of bone accrual. Our aims is to replicate in ALSPAC novel genome-wide associations with bone accrual in the Bone Mineral Density in Childhood Study.
B3313 - Biosocial Birth Cohort Research A cross-disciplinary network - 30/05/2019
This project will establish a network in which social scientists, geneticists and epidemiologists work together to better understand, and benefit from, longitudinal birth cohort studies, which follow participants throughout their lives, often including multiple generations. These studies are becoming more important in disease research, to understand how environmental factors affect our health. So far, social scientists have not played a prominent role in the design or implementation of this type of study. The input of social scientists is important to better understand the relationship between biology and society emerging from birth cohort studies. This project will fill this gap by creating a network of scientists from all disciplines, including the social sciences. The project will include longitudinal birth cohort studies in the Global North and also in the Global South, where little research has been carried out on how these studies work, how they are maintained and used.
B3312 - Neurocognition in Children with Atopic Dermatitis - 03/06/2019
Atopic dermatitis (AD), also known as eczema, is a chronic, itchy skin disorder that affects up to 20% of children. It has been associated with neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Previous studies have shown higher rates of sleep disruption, inattention, and forgetfulness in children with AD compared to those without AD; these suggest that neurocognition, which encompasses functions such as language, memory, attention, and executive functions, may be impacted by AD. However, there are few studies of cognition in children with AD. Previous studies have also been limited by small sample size and have shown mixed findings. Thus, the purpose of this study is to compare neurocognitive function between children with and without AD using the large ALSPAC cohort. We will comprehensively assess multiple domains of cognition (e.g. attention, executive function, memory, IQ) using validated and standardized measurements. We will examine the overall impact of AD on these cognitive outcomes, accounting for demographic and socioeconomic factors and other comorbidities. In addition, we will examine whether cognitive function differs with respect to AD disease activity.
B3322 - Assessing trajectories of e-cigarette use and smoking and their risk factors - 06/06/2019
Smoking is the worldâs leading preventable cause of morbidity and mortality, killing over seven million people annually. Cigarettes contain nicotine, which is highly addictive. E-cigarettes are less harmful than smoking, can successfully deliver nicotine, and can help some smokers quit. However, their long-term health effects are unknown, and there are concerns about e-cigarette use among non-smokers. Longitudinal surveys show that non-smoking youth who use e-cigarettes are more likely to go on to try smoking. However, it is not clear whether (1) e-cigarette use can lead to nicotine addiction, sustained e-cigarette use, or regular smoking, (2) the association between e-cigarette use and smoking exists due to common risk factors.
This project therefore aims to assess the trajectories of e-cigarette use and smoking, and whether there are common risk factors for these trajectories.
Measures assessing e-cigarette use and smoking will be designed and included in the next questionnaire (2020-2021). Data from these will be combined with previous ALSPAC data on e-cigarette use and smoking to assess trajectories of product use. Previous ALSPAC data assessing individual, family, peer, school, and community-level factors will also be accessed and used to predict the different trajectories of use.
B3319 - Clinical and cognitive profiles of adults with psychotic experiences with and without preceding PTSD - 28/05/2019
There is substantial evidence demonstrating that in addition to the well-established link between exposure to childhood trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD has been associated with an increased risk for other severe psychiatric disorders such as psychosis. Individuals with psychosis have been found to have higher comorbid rates of PSTD compared to the general population (30%-50% vs 7%-9%). Importantly, the link between psychosis and PTSD is complex and multifactorial. There is very little knowledge on what could explain the high comorbidity between PTSD and psychosis, and more specifically the mechanisms/pathways that may explain why trauma may lead to psychotic symptoms, PTSD or to a combination of both. To date, the literature has focused on two main hypotheses: a) PTSD stands as a mediator of the relationship between childhood trauma and psychotic symptom severity. A model of continuity has also been suggested, implying that psychotic symptoms would be an exacerbation of the PTSD symptoms and b) PTSD and psychosis are both part of a broader spectrum of reactions to trauma with similar explanatory mechanisms at the level of cognitive schemas (e.g. beliefs about self and others), attributional styles and dissociative processes. There is a paucity of empirical evidence evaluating either of these hypotheses. Examining clinical and cognitive profiles of adults with psychotic experiences, with and without preceding PTSD (after childhood trauma) would be the first step towards disentangling complex relationship between the two disorders.
B3316 - Genetics susceptibility to high BMI and its relationship to food intake in children - 23/05/2019
B3318 - Genetics of Child Growth Trajectories - 23/05/2019
Our team is interested in variables that influence the weight gain patterns of young children. In this study we aim at identifying genetic variants (differences in the DNA between individuals) that could be used to predict which children are most at risk at developing childhood obesity. With this information we could identify children who would benefit most from early life obesity interventions.
B3315 - Intergeneration transmission of sexual abuse and violence - 20/05/2019
Children, particularly daughters, of mothers who have been victims of sexual violence and abuse have a higher risk of becoming victims of sexual violence and abuse, compared to children of mothers who have no such victimisation histories. The majority of studies examining this intergeneration 'transmission' of sexual abuse and violence have been conducted using samples from populations in which there are a high number of victims and outside the UK. Furthermore, studies have tended to focus on the sexual abuse histories of the mother and not the father. This study, using a general population sample (i.e., of people not specifically identified on the basis of being victims of sexual abuse) will enable us to identify the extent to which mothers' sexual abuse experiences increase the risk of similar victimisation in their children. We will also examine the impact of the sexual histories of fathers and what other factors (e.g., other types of abuse experienced by the mother and/or father, parents' mental health, children's early development and conduct disorders) exacerbate or reduce the risk of intergeneration transmission.
B3311 - Prediction of cardio-metabolic risk from circulating metabolites A longitudinal study from childhood to early adulthood - 28/05/2019
B3314 - The metabolomic profiling of cigarette smoking - 20/05/2019
It is hypothesized that exposure to cigarette smoking could influence the risk of cardiovascular diseases through direct modification of the lipoprotein profile, lipotoxicity and change in chronic oxidative stress. However, the metabolic profiling of cigarette smoking have not been precisely investigated.
Using the ALSPAC data, this study aims to provide insights into the molecular effect of smoking both in terms of the composition and the concentration of the molecular species affected.
B3310 - Puberty timing and cardiovascular structure and function at age 25 years - 13/05/2019
Puberty timing has been decreasing for several decades. Earlier puberty is thought to be associated with greater cardiovascular disease risk. The aim of this project is to examine the association between puberty timing and cardiac measures at age 25 years.
B3309 - Understanding the mechanisms linking the urban environment to psychotic experiences across the lifespan - 21/05/2019
Individuals who are raised in urban (versus rural) settings are around twice as likely to develop a psychotic disorder in adulthood. This association has now been replicated for subclinical psychotic experiences during childhood and adulthood (e.g., hearing voices, extreme paranoia). These symptoms lie on a continuum with clinical psychosis and therefore provide a useful marker to explore the urbanicity-psychosis association in the general population. Given that 70% of the worldâs population will live in urban areas by 2050, it is essential that we uncover the pathways linking cities and psychosis so that we can inform intervention efforts.
Research supports a role of neighbourhood social factors correlated with urbanicity in the aetiology of psychotic experiences, such as neighbourhood disorder and social fragmentation (i.e., weak connections between individuals in a community). In addition, emerging research suggests that urban residents have a higher genetic risk for schizophrenia, meaning that the urbanicity-psychosis association could be partly confounded by genes.
However, very little is currently known about the potential role of air pollution in the link between cities and psychosis. Air pollution is the world's biggest environmental health problem, and is particularly problematic in cities. Recent cross-sectional research has provided the first evidence linking air pollution to psychotic experiences among teenagers.
However, longitudinal research into the link between air pollution and psychotic experiences is needed to establish the temporal nature of associations. In addition, neighbourhood social exposures are highly correlated with air pollution (i.e., the most deprived neighbourhoods also tend to be the most polluted). The interplay between neighbourhood social conditions and air pollution (i.e., confounding versus interaction) in relation to psychotic experiences is not known. Furthermore, though influences on inflammatory and cognitive processes are the most commonly suggested mechanisms linking urban exposures to psychosis, very few studies have directly tested these mechanisms.
This project will examine 1) the longitudinal associations of air pollution exposure from birth to age 15 with psychotic experiences in childhood and adolescence, 2) the interplay between neighbourhood social characteristics (neighbourhood disorder and social fragmentation) and air pollution in the emergence of psychotic experiences, and 3) potential biopsychological mechanisms linking urban neighbourhood exposures with psychotic experiences, including inflammation and cognition.
B3306 - Modelling techniques for accelerated longitudinal studies - 07/05/2019
I met with Dr Fanny Kilpi following her presentation on some of the maternal data with cognitive outcomes from ALSPAC. Dr Jon Heron noticed the similarity in terms of structure of her dataset and wondered whether we could use these data to trial a new method of handling data produced from another study that we are involved with called cVEDA.
The purpose of this exercise is to trial a method/s of dealing with data including missing data that is completely new to me and the cVEDA (Indian cohort) team. It is purely for learning purposes and to consider any assumptions and adjustments we may make to our models when our final dataset is officially released at the end of 2020 i.e. a practice dataset.
Despite a publishable manuscript not being our primary goal it would be useful to have some input into how best to use these data, and which exclusions to make (e.g. HRT etc). Also, we may discover the analytical approach to be useful to you and then a publication may result if all collaborators consider this a worthwhile exercise and outcome.
B3307 - A multi-cohort GWAS of income using ALSPAC - 07/05/2019
B3308 - The development of genetically-based pathways underlying problematic alcohol use - 07/05/2019
Problematic alcohol use is a serious public health threat. Research suggests that there exist unique, biologically-based "types" of adolescents who are at high risk for problematic alcohol use. Discovering these types will help us identify personalized prevention targets for this condition. This proposal will examine patterns by which adolescent risk factors for problematic alcohol use (conduct problems, depressive symptoms, and personality traits) are inherited to identify new highly heritable traits. This proposal will also test sex differences in these new genetically-based traits and their relation to problematic alcohol use to shed light on whether differing treatments are needed for males and females.
B3299 - Clinical and Genetic Predictors of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome - 30/04/2019
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common disorder affecting women associated with major adverse health outcomes including subfertility and increased risk for type 2 diabetes. PCOS is a complex genetic trait which arises from a combination of genetic risk and environmental such as obesity. Currently, a conclusive diagnosis of PCOS cannot be made until sexual maturation is complete and the patient develops the characteristic diagnostic features of hyperandrogenism, oligomenorrhea, and/or polycystic ovarian morphology. However, studies in girls with increased risk for PCOS, including daughters of affected women and girls with obesity, have identified early reproductive and metabolic features of the syndrome even prior to the onset of puberty. Investigations into the early origins of PCOS have been limited by small sample size and lack of longitudinal data. The ALSPAC cohort includes critical data needed to investigate PCOS, including maternal reproductive histories, hormone levels, and offspring pubertal development, reproductive hormone levels, and menstrual histories. These proposal seeks to identify early clinical and genetic predictors of PCOS. Data collected in this project will be used for preliminary data in planned future innovative investigations of the early origins of PCOS. This study will propose using a translational approach integrating whole genome sequencing, epigenetic, and metabolomics data available in this cohort with clinical predictors of PCOS. This proposed research will have a sustained and lasting impact on the field as it will inform future efforts toward development of targeted prevention and early treatment approaches in at-risk girls.