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Psychiatric disorders and risk for multiple adverse outcomes: a national prospective study

Molecular Psychiatry volume 26, pages 907–916 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Most psychiatric disorders, when examined individually, are associated with a broad range of adverse outcomes. However, psychiatric disorders often co-occur and their co-occurrence is well explained by a limited number of transdiagnostic factors. Yet it remains unclear whether the risk of these adverse outcomes is due to specific psychiatric disorders, specific dimensions of psychopathology (i.e., internalizing and externalizing dimensions), a general psychopathology factor, or a combination of these explanations. In a large nationally representative prospective survey, the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), we used structural equation modeling to examine the shared and specific effects of common Axis I and Axis II disorders on the risk of ten adverse outcomes (unemployment; financial crisis; low income; poorer general health; worse mental and physical health; legal problems; divorce; problems with a neighbor, friend, or relative; and violence) in the general adult population. Effects of psychiatric disorders were exerted mostly through a general psychopathology factor representing the shared effect across all disorders, independent of sociodemographic characteristics and the presence of the adverse outcomes at baseline. Violence and legal problems were further associated with the externalizing factor, but there were no independent associations of the internalizing factor or any individual psychiatric disorders with any of the adverse outcomes. Our findings reveal that associations between psychiatric disorders and adverse outcomes occur through broad psychological dimensions. Understanding the biological and psychological mechanisms underlying these dimensions should yield key intervention targets to decrease the individual suffering and societal burden associated with common psychiatric disorders.

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Acknowledgements

The National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions was sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and funded, in part, by the Intramural Program, NIAAA, National Institutes of Health. The sponsors had no additional role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; and preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and should not be construed to represent the views of any of the sponsoring organizations, agencies or the US government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Carlos Blanco

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive, Unit 69, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Melanie M. Wall, Shang-Min Liu & Mark Olfson

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, HÔpital Corentin-Celton, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France

    Nicolas Hoertel

  4. INSERM UMR 894, Psychiatry and Neurosciences Center, Paris, France

    Nicolas Hoertel

  5. Paris Descartes University, PÔles de recherche et d’enseignement supérieur Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France

    Nicolas Hoertel

  6. University of Minnesota, Department of Psychology, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Robert F. Krueger

  7. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Bridget F. Grant

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  1. Carlos Blanco
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Correspondence to Carlos Blanco.

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Blanco, C., Wall, M.M., Hoertel, N. et al. Psychiatric disorders and risk for multiple adverse outcomes: a national prospective study. Mol Psychiatry 26, 907–916 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-019-0459-4

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