Risk of Major Mental Disorder after Severe Bacterial Infections in Children and Adolescents: A Nationwide Longitudinal Study

Hsu TW, Chu CS, Tsai SJ, Bai YM, Su TP, Chen TJ, Chen MH, Liang CS. Risk of Major Mental Disorder after Severe Bacterial Infections in Children and Adolescents: A Nationwide Longitudinal Study. Neuropsychobiology. 2022 Nov 18:1-11. doi: 10.1159/000526984.
    14,024 children and adolescents with hospitalized bacterial infection, and noninfected controls were 1:4 matched from a nationwide cohort between 1997 and 2012,

  • 11 investigated pathogens, namely, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, Hemophilus, Mycoplasma, Tuberculosis, Meningococcus, Escherichia, Chlamydia, and Scrub typhus.
  • The primary outcomes were the subsequent risk of seven MMDs: 1- autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 2- attention-deficiency hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), 3- obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), 4- tic disorder, -5 schizophrenia, 6- bipolar disorder, 7- depressive disorder.
  • The secondary outcomes were the subsequent risk of exposure to psychotropic medications.
Conclusions: After bacterial infection, the risk of MMDs increased in children and adolescents compared to controls, and such associations varied with different pathogens. Future studies are warranted to validate our study findings and investigate the potential mechanisms.

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