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Introduction In the stressful context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, some reports have raised concerns regarding psychiatric disorders with the use of hydroxychloroquine. In this study, we reviewed all psychiatric adverse effects with hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 patients, as well as in other indications, reported in VigiBase, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global database of individual case safety reports. Methods First, we analyzed all psychiatric adverse effects, including suicide, of hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 patients reported to 16 June 2020. We also performed disproportionality analysis to investigate the risk of reporting psychiatric disorders with hydroxychloroquine compared with remdesivir, tocilizumab, or lopinavir/ritonavir prescribed in COVID-19 patients. We used reporting odds ratios (RORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to calculate disproportionality. Second, we sought to examine the psychiatric safety profile of hydroxychloroquine in other indications (before 2020). Results Among the 1754 reports with hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 patients, we found 56 psychiatric adverse effects. Half of these adverse effects were serious, including four completed suicides, three cases of intentional self-injury, and 12 cases of psychotic disorders with hallucinations. Compared with remdesivir, tocilizumab, or lopinavir/ritonavir, the use of hydroxychloroquine was associated with an increased risk of reporting psychiatric disorders (ROR 6.27, 95% CI 2.74–14.35). Before 2020, suicide was the main cause of death among all adverse drug reactions reported with hydroxychloroquine, followed by cardiac adverse effects (cardiomyopathy) and respiratory failure. Conclusions This pharmacovigilance analysis suggests that COVID-19 patients exposed to hydroxychloroquine experienced serious psychiatric disorders, and, among these patients, some committed suicide. Further real-world studies are needed to quantify the psychiatric risk associated with hydroxychloroquine during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract Background & Hypothesis Psychotic disorders are inequitably distributed by race in the United States, although it is not known whether this is due to assessment biases or inequitable distributions of risk factors. Psychotic experiences are subclinical hallucinations and delusions used to study the etiology of psychosis, which are based on self-report and therefore not subject to potential clinician biases. In this study, we test whether the prevalence of psychotic experiences (PE) varies by race and if this variance is explained by socioenvironmental risk factors. Study Design Data on demographics, PE, and socioenvironmental risk factors were collected through the National Survey of Poly-victimization and Mental Health, a national probability sample of US young adults. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine whether PE prevalence varied by race/ethnicity and, if so, whether this was attenuated with inclusion of indicators of income, education, urban/rural living, discrimination, and trauma exposure. Study Results Black and Hispanic respondents reported PE at significantly greater rates than White or “other” ethnoracial groups, with hallucinations more commonly reported by Hispanic respondents. PE were significantly associated with police violence exposure, discrimination, adverse childhood experiences, and educational attainment. These factors statistically explained ethnoracial differences in the likelihood of overall PE occurrence and of nearly all PE subtypes. Conclusions Previously observed racial differences in psychosis extend beyond clinical schizophrenia, and therefore, are unlikely to be explained entirely by clinician biases. Instead, racial disparities in PE appear to be driven by features of structural racism, trauma, and discrimination.

Epidemiological research has shown that hallucinations and delusions, the classic symptoms of psychosis, are far more prevalent in the population than actual psychotic disorder. These symptoms are especially prevalent in childhood and adolescence. Longitudinal research has demonstrated that psychotic symptoms in adolescence increase the risk of psychotic disorder in adulthood. There has been a lack of research, however, on the immediate clinicopathological significance of psychotic symptoms in adolescence. To investigate the relationship between psychotic symptoms and non-psychotic psychopathology in community samples of adolescents in terms of prevalence, co-occurring disorders, comorbid (multiple) psychopathology and variation across early v. middle adolescence. Data from four population studies were used: two early adolescence studies (ages 11-13 years) and two mid-adolescence studies (ages 13-16 years). Studies 1 and 2 involved school-based surveys of 2243 children aged 11-16 years for psychotic symptoms and for emotional and behavioural symptoms of psychopathology. Studies 3 and 4 involved in-depth diagnostic interview assessments of psychotic symptoms and lifetime psychiatric disorders in community samples of 423 children aged 11-15 years. Younger adolescents had a higher prevalence (21-23%) of psychotic symptoms than older adolescents (7%). In both age groups the majority of adolescents who reported psychotic symptoms had at least one diagnosable non-psychotic psychiatric disorder, although associations with psychopathology increased with age: nearly 80% of the mid-adolescence sample who reported psychotic symptoms had at least one diagnosis, compared with 57% of the early adolescence sample. Adolescents who reported psychotic symptoms were at particularly high risk of having multiple co-occurring diagnoses. Psychotic symptoms are important risk markers for a wide range of non-psychotic psychopathological disorders, in particular for severe psychopathology characterised by multiple co-occurring diagnoses. These symptoms should be carefully assessed in all patients.

Non-motor features of Parkinson's disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), such as auditory hallucinations (AH), contribute to disease burden but are not well understood. Systematic review and random-effects meta-analyses of studies reporting AH associated with PD or DLB. Prevalence of visual hallucinations (VH) in identified studies meeting eligibility criteria were included in meta-analyses, facilitating comparison with AH. Synthesis of qualitative descriptions of AH was performed. PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus databases were searched for primary journal articles, written in English, published from 1970 to 2017. Studies reporting AH prevalence in PD or DLB were screened using PRISMA methods. Searches identified 4542 unique studies for consideration, of which, 26 met inclusion criteria. AH pooled prevalence in PD was estimated to be 8.9% [95% confidence interval (CI) 5.3-14.5], while in DLB was estimated to be 30.8% (±23.4 to 39.3). Verbal hallucinations, perceived as originating outside the head, were the most common form of AH. Non-verbal AH were also common while musical AH were rare. VH were more prevalent, with an estimated pooled prevalence in PD of 28.2% (±19.1 to 39.5), while in DLB they were estimated to be 61.8% (±49.1 to 73.0). Meta-regression determined that the use of validated methodologies to identify hallucinations produced higher prevalence estimates. AH and VH present in a substantial proportion of PD and DLB cases, with VH reported more frequently in both conditions. Both AH and VH are more prevalent in DLB than PD. There is a need for standardised use of validated methods to detect and monitor hallucinations.

Background Non-visual hallucinations in Parkinson’s disease (PD) can be prevalent and distressing. Most existing research has however, focused on visual hallucinations as well as related risk factors. The current study thus conducted a systematic review to collate existing evidence on non-visual hallucinations in PD, focusing on their prevalence, phenomenology, and clinical-cognitive correlates. Methods Ninety-one relevant studies were included from a systematic search across PsycINFO APA, PubMed, and Web of Science, for peer-reviewed publications in the English language, from 1970 to the present. These comprised a mix of case (30 studies; n  = 56) and group design (62 studies; n  = 7346) studies, divided into three somewhat overlapping collections to address our three research foci. Results Prevalence estimates for hallucinations were: auditory 1.5–72.0%, olfactory 1.6–21.0%, somatic-tactile 0.4–22.5%, gustatory 1.0–15.0%, and sensed presence 0.9–73.3%. Phenomenological inquiries revealed descriptions of vivid, consuming events replete with elaborate detail, adversely affecting PD patients in different ways. Overt experiences of multisensory hallucinations were also highly variable (0.4–80%) but exceedingly common, reported by almost half of the 45 included prevalence studies. There was some evidence for modality-specific hallucination predictors, but this was largely tentative, pending robust replication. Conclusions Marked prevalence figures coupled with phenomenological descriptions implicating distress denote that non-visual and multisensory hallucinations in PD are of clinical significance. More direct research and clinical attention need to be devoted to the study and management of such hallucinatory experiences.

BackgroundParkinson’s Disease (PD) psychosis refers to the spectrum of illusions, formed hallucinations and delusions that occur in PD. Visual hallucinations and illusions are thought to be caused by specific cognitive and higher visual function deficits and patients who develop such symptoms early in the disease course have greater rates of cognitive decline and progression to dementia. To date, no studies have investigated whether such deficits are found prior to the onset of PD psychosis.MethodHere we compare baseline cognitive, biomarker (structural imaging and cerebrospinal fluid) and other PD psychosis risk factor data in patients who go on to develop illusions or hallucinations within 3–4 years of follow-up in the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative cohort of newly diagnosed PD.ResultsOf n=423 patients with PD, n=115 (27%) reported predominantly illusions with the median time of onset at 19.5 months follow-up. At study entry these patients had reduced CSF amyloid Aß1-42, lower olfaction scores, higher depression scores and increased REM sleep behaviour disorder symptoms compared to patients without early onset PD psychosis but no differences in cognitive, higher visual or structural imaging measures. A subset of patients with early onset formed hallucinations (n=21) had reduced higher visual function at baseline, cortical thinning in parietal, occipital and frontal cortex and reduced hippocampal volume.ConclusionsThe findings suggest early onset illusions and formed hallucinations are linked to amyloid pathology in PD and point to a difference in the underlying pathophysiological mechanism of illusions and formed hallucinations, with implications for their respective links to future cognitive decline.

Psychotic symptoms occur more frequently in the general population than psychotic disorder and index risk for psychopathology. Multiple studies have reported on the prevalence of these symptoms using self-report questionnaires or clinical interviews but there is a lack of consensus about the prevalence of psychotic symptoms among children and adolescents. We conducted a systematic review of all published literature on psychotic symptom prevalence in two age groups, children aged 9-12 years and adolescents aged 13-18 years, searching through electronic databases PubMed, Ovid Medline, PsycINFO and EMBASE up to June 2011, and extracted prevalence rates. We identified 19 population studies that reported on psychotic symptom prevalence among children and adolescents. The median prevalence of psychotic symptoms was 17% among children aged 9-12 years and 7.5% among adolescents aged 13-18 years. Psychotic symptoms are relatively common in young people, especially in childhood. Prevalence is higher in younger (9-12 years) compared to older (13-18 years) children.

ABSTRACTObjectivesExploration of the themes and content of psychotic symptoms in young-onset dementia (YOD) is limited to case analysis. The primary objective of this study was to determine the themes of psychotic symptoms in individuals diagnosed with YOD. DesignComprehensive retrospective file review of discharge summaries. SettingNeuropsychiatry, a specialist mental health service located at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Australia. ParticipantsInpatients at Neuropsychiatry admitted between 2018 and 2020 (inclusive). MeasurementsData extracted included descriptions and prevalence of psychotic symptoms as well as general demographic and clinical data. Data analysis was conducted using a thematic approach. ResultsTwenty-three inpatients had a diagnosis of YOD with psychotic symptoms. Themes were identified in the domains of delusions (six themes), auditory hallucinations (five themes), and visual hallucinations (two themes). Strong recurring themes across the modalities of hallucinations and delusions were beliefs and experiences relating to paranoia, suspicion, harm, and abuse. Themes did not clearly intersect across the modalities of hallucinations and delusions. A degree of thematic heterogeneity existed within individuals, and individuals experienced delusions or hallucinations of multiple themes. The themes of the psychotic symptoms did not clearly relate to diagnostic category, nor to time from diagnosis. ConclusionThis study is the first thematic analysis of psychotic symptoms in YOD and provides further understanding of patient phenomenology and experiences of psychosis in YOD.

The negative implications of living in a socially unequal society are now well documented. However, there is poor understanding of the pathways from specific environmental risk to symptoms. Here we examine the associations between social deprivation, depression, and psychotic symptoms using the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, a cross-sectional dataset including 7,353 individuals. In addition we looked at the mediating role of stress, discrimination, trust and lack of social support. We found that the participants' neighbourhood index of multiple deprivation (IMD) significantly predicted psychosis and depression. On inspection of specific psychotic symptoms, IMD predicted paranoia, but not hallucinations or hypomania. Stress and trust partially mediated the relationship between IMD and paranoid ideation. Stress, trust and a lack of social support fully mediated the relationship between IMD and depression. Future research should focus on the role deprivation and social inequalities plays in specific manifestations of psychopathology and investigate mechanisms to explain those associations that occur. Targeting the mediating mechanisms through appropriate psychological intervention may go some way to dampen the negative consequences of living in an unjust society; ameliorating economic injustice may improve population mental health.

Psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) in the general population are common, particularly in childhood, and may constitute part of a spectrum of normative development. Nevertheless, these experiences confer increased risk for later psychotic disorder, and are associated with poorer health and quality of life. This study used factor analytic methods to determine the latent structure underlying PLEs, problem behaviours and personal competencies in the general child population, and used item response theory (IRT) to assess the psychometric properties of nine PLE items to determine which items best represented a latent psychotic-like construct (PSY). A total of 7966 children aged 9-11 years, constituting 95% of eligible children, completed self-report questionnaires. Almost two-thirds of the children endorsed at least one PLE item. Structural analyses identified a unidimensional construct representing psychotic-like severity in the population, the full range of which was well sampled by the nine items. This construct was discriminable from (though correlated with) latent dimensions representing internalizing and externalizing problems. Items assessing visual and auditory hallucination-like experiences provided the most information about PSY; delusion-like experiences identified children at more severe levels of the construct. Assessing PLEs during middle childhood is feasible and supplements information concerning internalizing and externalizing problems presented by children. The hallucination-like experiences constitute appropriate items to screen the population to identify children who may require further clinical assessment or monitoring. Longitudinal follow-up of the children is required to determine sensitivity and specificity of the PLE items for later psychotic illness.