Browsing by Author "Tompuri, Hanna"

Aims of the study. The aim of this study was to examine the association of the circadian period length and mood disorders in adolescents. The late chronotype has been associated with a few adversities, such as poorer mental health. In previous studies, it has also been shown that chronotypes might be due to deviations from the 24 hours circadian period length rather than differences in timing of sleep. The research questions of this study were: Is the length of circadian period associated with depressive and/ or anxiety disorders in 16-19-year-olds? Does gender moderate the association between circadian period length and mood disorders in 16-19-year-olds? The hypothesis was that circadian period significantly longer or shorter than 24 hours is associated with a higher risk of depressive and/ or anxiety disorders. Methods. The study was part of the SleepHelsinki! research project which is a population-based cohort study that consisted of two phases. In the first phase 7539 Finnish speaking adolescents, aged 16-17 were invited to participate in an online survey about health behaviours and sleep. Of the 1411 adolescents participating in the online survey, 329 were invited to the second phase of the study to assess psychiatric disorders of the participants with MINI interview and record the information about their distal skin temperature to assess the length of the circadian period. Information of 258 participants were used in this study. Binary logistic regression was used in the statistical analysis of the data. Results and conclusions. Female gender was associated with a higher prevalence of anxiety and depressive disorders. The results showed that gender and the length of the circadian period were associated with depressive disorders in adolescence. No association was found between circadian period length and anxiety disorders. Age was not associated with either depressive or anxiety disorders. Both the longer and shorter circadian period and female gender were associated with the occurrence of depressive disorders.