Children with behavioural problems more at risk of chronic conditions

Karestan Koenen

Children with behavioural problems may be at risk of many chronic diseases in adulthood including heart disease, obesity, diabetes, as well as inflammatory illnesses (conditions which are caused by cell damage).

Analyzing data on more than 4,000 participants in the Children of the 90s study at the University of Bristol, researchers from Harvard and Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health found that children with behavioral problems at the age of 8, had higher levels of two proteins (C-reactive protein—CRP; and Interleukin 6—IL-6) in their blood when tested at the age of 10.

This was the case even after a large number of other factors, including sex, race, background, and medication use, were taken into account.

Having raised levels of CRP and IL-6 can be an early warning sign that a person may be at risk of chronic or inflammatory conditions later in life.

Previous research has shown that children with behavioural problems can go on to develop health problems during adulthood, but this is the first time that a link has been found between mental health and inflammation in childhood.

The researchers believe the link may be due to the fact that many behavioral problems are associated with how the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis works.

The HPA axis plays a major role in controlling reactions to stress and the immune system and, if it malfunctions, it can stimulate the release of the two proteins that cause chronically elevated levels of inflammation, which is tissue's response to injury.

Speaking about the findings, Karestan Koenen, PhD, the report's senior author and associate professor of Epidemiology at Harvard, said:
"This new research shows for the first time that having behavioural problems in childhood can put children on the path to ill health much earlier than we previously realized." 

"The important message for healthcare professionals is that they need to monitor the physical health as well as the mental health of children with behavioural problems to identify those at risk as early as possible."

Findings are published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.

More Information: article/pii/S030645301300262X

Multiple sclerosis starts in brain’s outer layers

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic have reversed the traditional understanding of how multiple sclerosis (MS) begins and travels in the brain.

The common view is that the disease starts in the centre of the brain, in the white matter mostly found there, and then moves toward the outer layers, such as the cortex.

But this study, which is unique because it focused on the brain tissues of patients in the very early stages of MS, shows the opposite: that it moves from the outside in.

It begins in the “subarachnoid space,” which surrounds the brain, cushions it and is filled with cerebrospinal fluid. From there it moves into the white matter. This animation shows how the two hypotheses differ.

The findings are also significant because they support the hypothesis that inflammation, not neurodegeneration, is a main driver of the disease.

The authors conclude that it is “overwhelmingly likely” that MS is fundamentally an inflammatory disease, and not a neurodegenerative disease similar to Alzheimer’s.

Researchers are not entirely sure exactly causes MS, but the prevailing theory is that it is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s own immune system attacks and destroys its own myelin, a fatty substance essential to the nervous system. It protects the crucial nerve fibres enable different sections of the brain to communicate.

When myelin is damaged (as in MS), messages between the brain and the body are delayed or blocked, leading to MS symptoms such as blindness, numbness, paralysis, and thinking and memory difficulties.

“Our study shows the cortex is involved early in MS and may even be the initial target of disease,” co-lead author of the study and Mayo Clinic neurologist Dr. Claudia F. Lucchinetti stated.

“Inflammation in the cortex must be considered when investigating the causes and progression of MS”, she says. She and her co-author, Dr. Richard Ransohoff of the Cleveland Clinic, published the results of their study in the New England Journal of Medicine.