Research from high-income countries has implicated travel distance to mental health services as an important factor influencing treatment-seeking for mental disorders. This study aimed to test the extent to which travel distance to the nearest depression treatment provider is associated with treatment-seeking for depression in rural India.

We used data from a population-based survey of adults with probable depression (n = 568), and calculated travel distance from households to the nearest public depression treatment provider with network analysis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). We tested the association between travel distance to the nearest public depression treatment provider and 12 month self-reported use of services for depression.

We found no association between travel distance and the probability of seeking treatment for depression (OR 1.00, 95% CI 0.98–1.02, p = 0.78). Those living in the immediate vicinity of public depression treatment providers were just as unlikely to seek treatment as those living 20 km or more away by road. There was evidence of interaction effects by caste, employment status and perceived need for health care, but these effect sizes were generally small.

Geographic accessibility – as measured by travel distance – is not the primary barrier to seeking treatment for depression in rural India. Reducing travel distance to public mental health services will not of itself reduce the depression treatment gap for depression, at least in this setting, and decisions about the best platform to deliver mental health services should not be made on this basis.

This study examined the prevalence of students’ reported experiences of bullying and victimization in primary and secondary schools and their association with levels of perceived stress and cannabis use.

We consecutively enrolled 407 students attending three secondary schools in Pavia (Italy). Bullying and victimization were measured using the retrospective bullying questionnaire (RQB). The 10-item perceived stress scale (PSS-10) was used to assess the degree to which situations in life were perceived as stressful. Data on demographic characteristics and cannabis use in the previous 6 months were also collected.

There were 328 victims (80.6%) and 221 bullies (52.1%). The results of the stepwise regression analysis with bullying as the dependent variable were significant with either male sex (R2 = 0.030, p = 0.024) or PSS-10 scores (R2 = 0.056, p = 0.036) in the model. With victimization as the dependent variable, only the PSS-10 scores were retained in the model as an independent predictor variable (R2 = 0.048, p < 0.001).

The results from this study indicate that the level of perceived stress has an independent association with both bullying and victimization. Further studies are needed to clarify the psychobiological links between stress, cannabis use and bullying behaviours.

Research shows persistent ethnic inequities in mental health experiences and outcomes, with a higher incidence of illnesses among minoritised ethnic groups. People with psychosis have an increased risk of multiple long-term conditions (MLTC; multimorbidity). However, there is limited research regarding ethnic inequities in multimorbidity in people with psychosis. This study investigates ethnic inequities in physical health multimorbidity in a cohort of people with psychosis.

In this retrospective cohort study, using the Clinical Records Interactive Search (CRIS) system, we identified service-users of the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder, and then additional diagnoses of diabetes, hypertension, low blood pressure, overweight or obesity and rheumatoid arthritis. Logistic and multinomial logistic regressions were used to investigate ethnic inequities in odds of multimorbidity (psychosis plus one physical health condition), and multimorbidity severity (having one or two physical health conditions, or three or more conditions), compared with no additional health conditions (no multimorbidity), respectively. The regression models adjusted for age and duration of care and investigated the influence of gender and area-level deprivation.

On a sample of 20 800 service-users with psychosis, aged 13–65, ethnic differences were observed in the odds for multimorbidity. Controlling for sociodemographic factors and duration of care, compared to White British people, higher odds of multimorbidity were found for people of Black African [adjusted Odds Ratio = 1.41, 95% Confidence Intervals (1.23–1.56)], Black Caribbean [aOR = 1.79, 95% CI (1.58–2.03)] and Black British [aOR = 1.64, 95% CI (1.49–1.81)] ethnicity. Reduced odds were observed among people of Chinese [aOR = 0.61, 95% CI (0.43–0.88)] and Other ethnic [aOR = 0.67, 95% CI (0.59–0.76)] backgrounds. Increased odds of severe multimorbidity (three or more physical health conditions) were also observed for people of any Black background.

Ethnic inequities are observed for multimorbidity among people with psychosis. Further research is needed to understand the aetiology and impact of these inequities. These findings support the provision of integrated health care interventions and public health preventive policies and actions.

It has been suggested that people with mental disorders have an elevated risk to acquire severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and to be disproportionally affected by coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) once infected. We aimed to analyse the COVID-19 infection rate, course and outcome, including mortality and long COVID, in people with anxiety, depressive, neurodevelopmental, schizophrenia spectrum and substance use disorders relative to control subjects without these disorders.

This study constitutes a preregistered systematic review and random-effects frequentist and Bayesian meta-analyses. Major databases were searched up until 27 June 2023.

Eighty-one original articles were included reporting 304 cross-sectional and prospective effect size estimates (median n per effect-size = 114837) regarding associations of interest. Infection risk was not significantly increased for any mental disorder that we investigated relative to samples of people without these disorders. The course of COVID-19, however, is relatively severe, and long COVID and COVID-19-related hospitalization are more likely in all patient samples that we investigated. The odds of dying from COVID-19 were high in people with most types of mental disorders, except for those with anxiety and neurodevelopmental disorders relative to non-patient samples (pooled ORs range, 1.26–2.57). Bayesian analyses confirmed the findings from the frequentist approach and complemented them with estimates of the strength of evidence.

Once infected, people with pre-existing mental disorders are at an elevated risk for a severe COVID-19 course and outcome, including long COVID and mortality, relative to people without pre-existing mental disorders, despite an infection risk not significantly increased.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with a higher risk of burn injury than in the normal population. Nevertheless, the influence of methylphenidate (MPH) on the risk of burn injury remains unclear. This retrospective cohort study analysed the effect of MPH on the risk of burn injury in children with ADHD.

Data were from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). The sample comprised individuals younger than 18 years with a diagnosis of ADHD (n = 90 634) in Taiwan's NHIRD between January 1996 and December 2013. We examined the cumulative effect of MPH on burn injury risk using Cox proportional hazards models. We conducted a sensitivity analysis for immortal time bias using a time-dependent Cox model and within-patient comparisons using the self-controlled case series model.

Children with ADHD taking MPH had a reduced risk of burn injury, with a cumulative duration of treatment dose-related effect, compared with those not taking MPH. Compared with children with ADHD not taking MPH, the adjusted hazard ratio for burn injury was 0.70 in children taking MPH for <90 days (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.64–0.77) and 0.43 in children taking MPH for ≥90 days (95% CI 0.40–0.47), with a 50.8% preventable fraction. The negative association of MPH was replicated in age-stratified analysis using time-dependent Cox regression and self-controlled case series models.

This study showed that MPH treatment was associated with a lower risk of burn injury in a cumulative duration of treatment dose-related effect manner.