Ludvig Daae Bjørndal

Two positions as either PhD or postdoctoral fellow on health determinants of education Do you want to research how health influences school performance and leads to intergenerational inequality? We have two vacant 3-year positions as a PhD fellow or postdoctoral research fellow in the p...

Who wants to join us in Oslo to study how health influences educational underperformance? We are hiring PhDs postdocs candidates for our funded project. We will follow children from birth to emerging adulthood, using behavioural genetic methods and large datasets 945000.webcruiter.no/Main/Recruit...

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Phenotypes This cohort study investigates the prevalence of avoidant/restrictive food intake (ARFI) in the general pediatric population, developmental characteristics of affected children, and the genetic underp...

And the paper (open access): jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

New risks of picky eating in kids revealed The study of over 35,000 children found that restricted eating has serious nutritional consequences for about 2–3 percent of kids.

Nice summary of our new paper on avoidant restrictive eating in Newsweek

www.newsweek.com/new-risks-pi...

I am really grateful to a fabulous team who has contributed to this work for more than 2 years, with expertise across eating disorders, epidemiology, developmental psychology, and genetics. Thank you! 💫

In sum, we identify high prevalence of ARFI in the general pediatric population, with elevated risk of more developmental difficulties for affected children. This is indicative of the need for broad support interventions. Finally, our findings advance understanding of genetic underpinnings of ARFI.

We subsequently conducted multiple genetic analyses. SNP-h2 ranged from 8-16%. Two genome-wide loci were identified and, for ARFI-clinical, an association with ADCY3. Small to moderate genetic correlations were observed across ARFI and numerous complex trait phenotypes.

We assessed numerous characteristics from socio-emotional and behavioral domains from 6 months years to 14 years. Across these timepoints, children with ARFI-broad persistent exhibited more developmental difficulties compared with children with no avoidant/restrictive food intake phenotypes.

Of children with data at 3 and 8 years (35,751), 32% were classified with any broad ARFI: 6% persistent, 18% transient, and 8% emergent. Prevalence of ARFI and at least one clinical indicator was 2% for persistent, 3% for transient, and 1% for emergent (6% in total).

We constructed avoidant/restrictive food intake (ARFI) phenotypes based on 3 and 8 year data, including transient (only 3), emergent (only 8), and persistent (both 3 and 8). Furthermore, we integrated symptom and registry data to identify multiple indicators of clinical significance.

Excited to share our new paper on avoidant/restrictive food intake, a core symptom of ARFID, just out in @jamapediatrics.com

We highlight its prevalence, associated developmental characteristics from 6 months through 14 years, and genetic associations.

doi.org/10.1001/jama...

A large population-based study in Norway found substantial prevalence of avoidant/restrictive food intake patterns, with affected children at higher risk for developmental challenges and neurodevelopmental diagnoses. ja.ma/4p8ZQ8s

Who am I? And what is this? Welcome to Minds in Context

I have just launched my Substack, 'Minds in Context', where I explore risk and resilience in current mental health research. More to come!

open.substack.com/pub/ludvigdb...

Results from study of mental health in 92 countries (n>53,000): People are not doing well.

- U-shape for age is gone: Young adults lowest health, highest illness
- Education still matters (a lot)
- 45% of older people live alone
- Hybrid work > 100% remote or in-person

Preprint: osf.io/3jyda_v1

📜 Now published in Journal of Affective Disorders:

doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...

Excited to share this work led by @cktamnes.bsky.social (and featuring many colleagues from PROMENTA at @unioslo-svfak.bsky.social) exploring the links between psychological wellbeing and illbeing across biological, developmental, societal and intervention perspectives

Research Fellow in Mental Health at UCL Apply for the Research Fellow in Mental Health role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.

I'm hiring! ✨ Looking for a Research Fellow to study environmental factors that mitigate intergenerational transmission of mental health.

3-year post at UCL @uclbrainscience.bsky.social with great opportunities for training, collaboration & exciting science!

🔗 Apply: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOZ633/r...

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.