Ludvig Daae Bjørndal

I had the pleasure of publishing an introduction to instrumental variables co-authored with Henrik Daae Zachrisson for the #JClinEpi key concepts in clinical epidemiology series! 🔬📖

www.jclinepi.com/article/S089...

Now published in JCPP Advances! 📜

acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

With @omidvebrahimi.bsky.social and Sarah Bauermeister

6/6. Thanks to a great team :) @espenr.bsky.social @ragnhildbangnes.bsky.social Tilmann von Soest and @omidvebrahimi.bsky.social

5/6. This paper follows several articles in which we show how risk factors exhibit granular associations with mental disorder symptoms. Such relationships can be overlooked when global measures, such as (symptom) sum scores, are used.

See also:
doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...
doi.org/10.1037/amp0...

4/6. We describe three key findings:

1️⃣ Several symptom-specific associations were discernible.
2️⃣ Depressive symptoms were more strongly tied to financial adversity compared with anxiety.
3️⃣ Hopelessness about the future was most strongly connected to financial adversity.

3/6. We incorporate multiple subjectively assessed financial factors (e.g., ability to cope with unforeseen expenses) and register-based financial data (e.g., income, assets).

2/6. We apply a systems-based approach to identify symptom-specific relationships. Why? Financial adversity is complex and multidimensional and may exhibit granular associations with specific mental disorder symptoms (i.e., different mental health experiences).

New paper! 📜 In nearly 50,000 individuals randomly sampled from the general population, we apply a symptom-specific perspective to examine which anxiety and depressive symptoms are most strongly associated with various aspects of financial adversity

doi.org/10.1016/j.ss...

An abbreviation (ABB) in a journal article (JA) or Grant Application (GA) is rarely worth the words it saves. Every ABB requires cognitive resources (CR) and at my age by the time I'm halfway through a JA or GA I no longer have the CR to remember what your ABB stood for.

Stress Resilience and Risk of Psychiatric Disorders After Childhood Bereavement

Childhood bereavement was associated with an increased risk of psychiatric disorders in adulthood, partly due to changes in stress resilience measured in late adolescence. https://ja.ma/44jTkEo

How Accurate & Consistent are Self-Report responses via Visual Analogue Scales (VAS) in Ecological Momentary Assessment & Digital Studies?

Examined in a massive EMA study (N = 3,761), our new #OpenAccess piece on this is just out:

online.ucpress.edu/collabra/art...

#PsychSciSky #AcademicSky

🧵:

(9/9) This work was conducted as part of my research visit at Karolinska Institutet last year. Many thanks to all of the fantastic collaborators on this paper!

(8/9) Still, our findings suggest that altered stress resilience is one mechanism linking childhood loss of a parent or sibling to psychiatric disorder risk in adulthood.

This is among the most comprehensive longitudinal studies on childhood bereavement and mental health across decades of life.

(7/9) There are some important limitations: We lack information about the resilience measure and only one measurement was available. Generalisability is also uncertain, with strong assumptions underlying causal mediation analysis, pointing to the need for triangulation across methods.

(6/9) Using causal mediation analysis (see vanderWeele 2014), we identified a mediating effect of stress resilience on the associations between childhood bereavement and psychiatric disorder risk.


The proportion mediated ranged from 6–22%, depending on the model and outcome.

(5/9) We found that loss of a parent/sibling, in particular parental loss, is associated with increased risk of psychiatric disorders in adulthood. The strongest associations were with depression.

Bereavement was also linked to a higher probability of lower stress resilience in late adolescence.

(4/9) We used Swedish registry data from more than 1.7 million individuals, with a follow-up of up to 34 years. Resilience was measured around age 18.

This unique dataset allowed for conducting comprehensive longitudinal and mediation analyses, with strong multivariable adjustment.

(3/9) And few studies have examined the potential mechanistic role of resilience in associations between childhood bereavement and psychiatric disorder risk.

We ask: Does altered stress resilience mediate associations between bereavement experiences in childhood and psychiatric disorder risk?

(2/9) Associations between childhood bereavement and increased risk of depression have been documented for > 60 years.

However, most studies have short follow-up durations (e.g., first two years after bereavement) and not comprehensively examined associations with different psychiatric outcomes.

Stress Resilience and Risk of Psychiatric Disorders After Childhood Bereavement This cohort study evaluates whether stress resilience mediates the association between childhood bereavement and psychiatric disorder risk in adulthood.

📢 Super excited to share this work: We examine how childhood bereavement is linked to an increased risk of psychiatric disorders, and identify altered stress resilience as a mediating mechanism, using data from 1.7 million individuals followed for up to 34 years (!)

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

A great collaboration!

Many thanks to @timoroettger.bsky.social, Adrian Askelund, Viktoria Birkenæs, @agataboch.bsky.social, Ben Glaser, @tkalan.bsky.social, @maxkorbmacher.bsky.social, Ivana Malovic, @julienmayor.bsky.social, @parekhpravesh.bsky.social, @dsquintana.bsky.social, & Laurie Hannigan

Reproducibility in epidemiological analyses of cohort data A case study of the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child cohort study (MoBa) Background: Epidemiological research is central to our understanding of health and disease. Secondary analysis of cohort data is an important tool in epidemiological research, but is vulnerable to pra...

The paper includes a lot of relevant material, including analysis code, simulated data etc.

osf.io/2jqxv/

New paper! 📜

Most of my work relies on large cohort datasets. But how can we ensure transparency and robust research findings using such data?

Here, we present a case study of reproducible practices in epi (with MoBa) and a practical example showing how these practices can be applied.

Hvordan har du det? Vi samler inn data fra hele verden gjennom en kort spørreundersøkelse (3–4 min). Vi ser på hvordan folk har det – psykisk, sosialt og økonomisk – og hva de tror om fremtiden ett år fra nå. Delta gjerne via denne lenken (English available):

cumc.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

4/4. The paper has many interesting points on multicomponent positive psychology interventions, scalable interventions, and mechanisms of change.

Thank you also to Behaviour Research and Therapy for a really great peer-review process, which helped strengthen this work.

3/4. Following the 10-week intervention period, we found that only positive emotions were conditionally dependent on treatment, indicating that 5 Ways to Wellbeing primarily works through the direct enhancement of positive emotions.

2/4. This study examined the effects of a wellbeing promotive digital intervention (5 Ways to Wellbeing for All) on different wellbeing measures. We used Network Intervention Analysis in a secondary analysis of the RCT data (n = 963) to highlight direct and indirect effects of the intervention.

Direct and Indirect Effects of a Digital Five Ways to Wellbeing Intervention: A Network Intervention Analysis While digital positive psychology interventions demonstrate effectiveness in promoting wellbeing and reducing illbeing in the general population, thei…

We have a new paper in Behaviour Research and Therapy highlighting direct and indirect effects of a digital wellbeing intervention in a large RCT.

Led by Monica Beer Prydz, with @espenr.bsky.social, Nikolai Czajkowski, and Ragnhild Bang Nes.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

PhD Research Fellowship to study exercise interventions for depression and anxiety | FINN.no A three-year PhD-position in study exercise interventions for depression and anxiety is available in the Psychiatric Epidemology Group (PaGE) at Lovisenberg

New PhD position available in our group focused on exercise interventions for depression and anxiety: www.finn.no/job/fulltime...

9/9. Research into ARFID and related phenotypes is rapidly expanding - and there is more to come from us. Stay tuned!