Erik Lykke Mortensen

University of Copenhagen · Department of Public Health

Background Accumulation of β-amyloid (Aβ) in the brain is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Cerebral deposition of Aβ initiates deteriorating pathways which eventually can lead to AD. However, the exact mechanisms are not known. A possible pathway could be that Aβ affects the cerebral vessels, causing inadequate cerebrovascular function. In t...

Poor sleep quality is well recognised in both post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and pain conditions. Comorbid chronic pain is prevalent in populations with PTSD and is believed to maintain symptoms of PTSD and increase the complexity of the condition. Ongoing diminished sleep quality may serve to maintain pain and PTSD symptoms, and thus affect...

Identifying early predictors of cognitive decline and at-risk individuals is essential for timely intervention and prevention of dementia. This study aimed to detect neurobiological changes and factors related to cognitive performance in the Metropolit 1953 Danish male birth cohort. We analyzed data from 582 participants, aged 57–68 years, using ma...

Introduction Cannabis is by far the most widely used and abused drug listed on the Drug Enforcement Administration's Schedule I, which includes drugs with a high potential for abuse. There is evidence of short‐term negative effects of cannabis use on cognition, but only a limited number of studies have explored the association between cannabis use...

Education-related variables are positively associated with intelligence in both causal directions, but little is known about the associations’ underlying genetically and environmentally intertwined processes and many ‘third variables’ are probably involved too. In this study, we investigated how school achievement, measured by grade point average (...

Objectives: To investigate the influence of wine, beer, and spirits consumption, respectively, on non-pathological, age-related cognitive decline from young adulthood to late midlife in a large follow-up study of Danish men. Methods: The study includes 2456 middle-aged Danish men from the Lifestyle and Cognition Follow-up study 2015, with informati...

Studies have shown a high prevalence of trauma and PTSD among patients with severe mental illness, but relatively few studies have examined the outcomes of PTSD treatment for this patient group. The aim of this case-series was to assess the feasibility of a Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) intervention for PTSD in people with ps...

Background It remains uncertain whether long-term use of benzodiazepines is associated with age-related cognitive decline, and if cognitive ability in early life is the driver of any association. This study examines the association of cognitive ability in young adulthood with later use of benzodiazepines and explores whether the use of benzodiazepi...

Dropout from mental health treatment is a substantial hindrance to relevant and effective treatment. Despite the high prevalence of PTSD among refugees, research into their treatment dropout has received limited attention. This study aimed to identify patterns and predictors of treatment dropout versus completion through different treatment stages....

Purpose The primary aims of this study were to examine the effects of 9 weeks of aerobic training, comprising three 30‐min sessions per week, on V̇O2max, inhibitory control, and plasma brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels among adolescents aged 16–19 years. Methods One hundred twenty‐one untrained or recreationally active adolescents fr...

Background Empirical evaluation of inverse probability weighting (IPW) for self-selection bias correction is inaccessible without the full source population. We aimed to: (i) investigate how self-selection biases frequency and association measures and (ii) assess self-selection bias correction using IPW in a cohort with register linkage. Methods T...

Background Plasma lipid concentrations in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) seem to be altered. Methods We conducted a naturalistic study with 75 adult female patients with AN and 26 healthy female controls (HC). We measured plasma lipid profile, sex hormones and used self-report questionnaires at admission and discharge. Results Total choleste...

Objective: The influence of gender on the number and pattern of co-morbid psychiatric illness was archivally compared between patients with and without an Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) among psychiatrically treated individuals drawn from a large Danish birth cohort. Method: By age 45, fifteen percent of the Copenhagen Perinatal Birth Cohort (N=8,109)...

Background Accumulation of β-amyloid (Aβ) in the brain is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Cerebral deposition of Aβ initiates deteriorating pathways which eventually can lead to AD. However, the exact mechanisms are not known. A possible pathway could be that Aβ affects the cerebral vessels, causing inadequate cerebrovascular function. In t...

Background With aging populations worldwide, identification of predictors of age-related cognitive decline is becoming increasingly important. The Danish Aging and Cognition Cohort (DanACo) including more than 5000 Danish men was established to investigate predictors of age-related cognitive decline from young adulthood to late mid-life. Construct...

Summary Background Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. We estimated the individual and combined prevalence of underweight or thinness and obesity, and their changes, from 1990 to 2022 for adults and school-aged children and adolescents in 200 countries and territories. Methods We used data...

Introduction Worldwide, more children than before survive preterm birth. Preterm birth can affect long‐term cognitive outcomes. The aim of our study was to investigate the association between preterm birth and academic performance and intelligence in youth. Material and methods This cohort study included all liveborn children in Denmark from 1978...

Background Fatigue, low muscle endurance, muscle weakness and low-grade inflammation are strongly related to frailty at higher age. When signs of self-perceived fatigue and low muscle endurance are interrelated with low-grade inflammation at midlife, they might be used as early markers for frailty. This study investigated whether the interrelations...

Aims Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by the accumulation of amyloid beta (A β ) in the brain. The deposition of A β is believed to initiate a detrimental cascade, including cerebral hypometabolism, accelerated brain atrophy, and cognitive problems—ultimately resulting in AD. However, the timing and causality of the cascade resulting in AD...

Objective: The authors investigated the clinical outcomes of commonly used antidepressants among older adults who initiated first-time antidepressants for depression by analyzing the 1-year risk of selected clinically relevant outcomes. Methods: This cohort study used nationwide Danish registry data and included all older adults who redeemed a f...

Objective: To study the plasma lipidome of patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) before and after weight restoration treatment and report associations with AN subtypes and oral contraceptive pill (OCP) usage. Methods: Quantitative shotgun lipidomics analysis was used to study plasma lipids of 50 female patients with AN before and after weight restora...

Background: The ICD-11 proposes fundamental changes to the PTSD diagnostic criteria, prompting thorough validation. While this is ideally carried out based on diagnostic interviews, most-and in the case of transcultural psychiatry all-studies have relied on self-reported measures. In this study, we used the International Trauma Interview (ITI) to...

Background Mindfulness facets can be trained with structured mindfulness interventions, but little is known regarding application on a broader level within sex therapy (e.g. men, partners and different sexual dysfunctions). Aim To evaluate the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of an 8-week intervention—specifically, mindfulness for sex and inti...

Understanding individual variability in response to physical activity is key to developing more effective and personalised interventions for healthy ageing. Here, we aimed to unpack individual differences by using longitudinal data from a randomised-controlled trial of a 12-month muscle strengthening intervention in older adults. Physical function...

Background: The aim of the study was to investigate whether patients with bipolar disorder (BD) in remission differ in personality traits compared with a healthy control group. Methods: A sample of patients with BD (n = 44) was compared with an individually matched control group (n = 44) using the Danish version of the Revised NEO Personality In...

Background The purpose of this study was to investigate if infants’ age at attaining motor developmental milestones is associated with the big five personality traits 50 years later. Methods Mothers of 8395 infants from the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort recorded a total of 12 motor developmental milestones during the first year of their infant’s life...

Background: No previous studies have focused specifically on comparing refugees with PTSD to persons family reunified to a refugee with PTSD to understand differences with regard to living conditions, emotional distress and treatment outcome. Knowledge on these differences are important to better understand the trauma-affected population and finall...

Optimal growth and development in childhood and adolescence is crucial for lifelong health and well-being1–6 . Here we used data from 2,325 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight from 71 million participants, to report the height and body-mass index (BMI) of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years on the basis of rural an...

Introduction It is suggested that birth by elective cesarean section (CS) reduces the risk of birth‐related infant mortality and injury. Other studies suggest an increased risk of somatic immune‐related diseases among children born by CS such as asthma, type 1 diabetes, and inflammatory bowel disease. The WHO Statement on Cesarean Section Rates 201...

Background and objective: Antidepressant use in older adults (≥ 65 years) is understudied in large population-based samples, particularly in recent years and regarding user characteristics. We aimed to describe the trends, patterns, and associated user characteristics of all antidepressant prescriptions redeemed by older adults at community pharma...

Abstract Background Research indicates detrimental effects of stress on brain health and cognitive functioning, but population-based studies using comprehensive measures of cognitive decline is lacking. The present study examined the association of midlife perceived stress with cognitive decline from young adulthood to late midlife, controlling for...

Objective: Concurrent polypharmacy and potentially-inappropriate-medication (PIMs) use with antidepressants in older adults is understudied. We investigated the prevalence and associated user characteristics of concurrent polypharmacy (≥5 drugs) and PIMs with antidepressants in all older adults (≥65 years) in Denmark based on prescriptions filled...

Aims: Gamma oscillations (≈25-100 Hz) are believed to play an essential role in cognition, and aberrant gamma oscillations occur in brain aging and neurodegeneration. This study examined age-related changes in visually evoked gamma oscillations at two different time points 5 years apart and tested the hypothesis that the power of gamma oscillation...

Hippocampal blood–brain barrier (BBB) permeability may increase in normal healthy ageing and contribute to neurodegenerative disease. To examine this hypothesis, we investigated the correlation between blood–brain barrier (BBB) permeability, regional brain volume, memory functions and health and lifestyle factors in The Metropolit 1953 Danish Male...

Introduction: Little is known about predictors of psychotherapy outcome in trauma-affected refugees. Knowledge on outcome predictors can help clinicians identify patients prior to treatment who are not likely to benefit from standardized psychotherapy and take additional measures to adjust treatment to the individual patient. Given the dynamic nat...

Background Many studies analyzing health effects of alcohol consumption have operationalized alcohol intake from a single baseline measure without further follow-up. Consequently, there is a lack of knowledge about stability and change in alcohol consumption over the life course and the social, psychological, lifestyle, and health characteristics a...

It is unknown if long-term remission for pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients is associated with post-treatment OCD symptom severity. The aim of the present study was to evaluate if post-treatment symptom severity cut-offs can discriminate remitters from non-remitters in pediatric OCD patients during three years of follow-up. All...

The present study aimed to investigate the long-term quality of life (QoL) in a large sample of pediatric obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) patients. The study included 220 pediatric OCD patients from the Nordic Long-term OCD Treatment Study (NordLOTS) who were evaluated at seven time points before, during, and after stepped-care treatment over a...

This retrospective study aimed to explore possible gender bias in a population of non-psychotic but otherwise mentally disturbed violent defendants (The Danish Penal Code section 69) evaluated at the Clinic of Forensic Psychiatry in Copenhagen from 2007 to 2016 (N = 678). The results showed that female defendants in the total sample were 2.5 times...

I artiklen diskuteres sammenhængen mellem personlighed og fysisk sygdom. Først omtales de vigtigste metodeproblemer inden for området, og det påpeges, at sikre konklusioner om sammenhængen mellem personlighed og sygdom kun kan drages på basis af prospektive longitudinelle undersøgelser af raske personer. Dernæst diskuteres forskellige modeller, der...

Background Prior studies have shown high heritability estimates regarding within-function transmission of neurocognition, both in healthy families and in families with schizophrenia but it remains an open question whether transmission from parents to offspring is function specific and whether the pattern is the same in healthy families and families...

Background Over the last two decades, a number of studies have highlighted the potential of psychedelic therapy. However, questions remain to what extend these results translate to naturalistic samples, and how contextual factors and the acute psychedelic experience relate to improvements in affective symptoms following psychedelic experiences outs...

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Reduced cerebrovascular response to neuronal activation is observed in patients with neurodegenerative disease. In the present study, we examined the correlation between reduced cerebrovascular response to visual activation (ΔCBF Vis.Act ) and subclinical cognitive deficits in a human population of mid-sixties individuals without neurodegenerative...

Background Conflicting results have been reported concerning possible adverse effects on the cognitive function of offspring of mothers with type 1 diabetes (O-mT1D). Previous studies have included offspring of parents from the background population (O-BP), but not offspring of fathers with type 1 diabetes (O-fT1D) as the unexposed reference group....

Predictors of treatment outcomes have received limited attention in the field of trauma-affected refugees. Symptom chronicity is potentially a particularly relevant predictor, as it would instruct earlier interventions for a population less familiar with psychiatric treatment options, and its identification may also reduce or delay the onset of com...

Background The ability to accurately predict survival in older adults is crucial as it guides clinical decision making. The added value of using various health indicators as well as changes in these indicators for predicting mortality remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate whether changes in health indicators such as frailty and...

Background Alcohol consumption potentially influences psychological well-being in beneficial and harmful ways, but prospective studies on the association show mixed results. Our main purpose was to examine prospective associations between alcohol consumption and psychological well-being in middle-aged men and women. Methods The study sample includ...

This Danish prospective cohort study assessed associations between exposure to any kind of sexual violence (SV), exposure to labelled SV (self-labelled as rape, sexual abuse, or incest), and satisfaction with life (SWL) in young adulthood (approximately 32 years) (N = 688) and at midlife (up-to-20 years later) (n = 230). Data are from the Prenatal...

The present study investigated the Danish secular trend of intelligence test scores among young men born between 1940 and 2000, as well as the possible associations of birth cohort changes in family size, nutrition, education, and intelligence test score variability with the increasing secular trend. The study population included all men born from...

Purpose This study aimed to investigate the time lag between onset and treatment (treatment delay) for alcohol use disorders (AUD) and associations between demographic factors and treatment delay for AUD. Methods The study included 6,584 men registered in the Copenhagen Alcohol Cohort, containing information on civil status, employment status, est...

Purpose The present study examined the prospective association of neuroticism, extraversion and psychoticism with risk of hospital diagnosed mental disorder, examining intelligence as a potential confounder of this association. Methods A total of 1118 Danish men and women completed the Eysenck personality questionnaire at the mean age of 27 years....

Many personality traits correlate with BMI, but the existence and direction of causal links between them are unclear. If personality influences BMI, knowing this causal direction could inform weight management strategies. Knowing that BMI instead influences personality would contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms of personality deve...

Objectives Previous research on the association between socioeconomic position (SEP) and dementia has not sufficiently accounted for the complex relationship between education and occupation. We investigated the independent and joint effects of educational attainment and occupation-based SEP on dementia. Methods We used register-based information...

Background The potential association between level of education and age-related cognitive decline remains an open question, partly because of a lack of studies including large subsamples with low education and follow-up intervals covering a substantial part of the adult lifespan. Objectives To examine cognitive decline assessed by a comprehensive...

Background: Alcohol consumption potentially influences psychological well-being in beneficial and harmful ways, but prospective studies on the association show mixed results. Our main purpose was to examine prospective associations between alcohol consumption and psychological well-being in middle-aged men and women. Methods: The study sample inclu...

Background There is a lack of research and consensus with respect to long-term effective treatments for trauma-affected refugees. The purpose of this follow-up study of a randomised clinical trial was to investigate the effectiveness of Stress Management (SM) versus Cognitive Restructuring (CR) in treating trauma-affected refugees, six and 18 month...

Disrupted pain regulation has been proposed as a component in functional somatic disorders (FSD). The objective of this study was to examine a general population sample, encompassing three delimitations of FSD while assessing pain sensitivity and conditioning pain modulation (CPM). Pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) at the tibialis and trapezius muscl...

Context The prevalence of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is increasing, and intrauterine hyperglycemia is suspected to affect offspring cognitive function. Objective We assessed academic performance by grade point average (GPA) in children aged 15–16 years at compulsory school graduation, comparing offspring exposed to GDM (O-GDM) with offspr...

Intelligence has been associated with a wide range of important life outcomes, including quality of life (QoL). However, previous studies have mainly focused on the association between current intelligence and QoL instead of investigating whether intelligence can predict later QoL. The purpose of the present cohort study was to investigate the infl...

Objective The aims of the current study were to investigate the associations between two aspects of well-being - satisfaction with life and vitality - and all-cause mortality, and examine the impact of potential confounding factors on the associations. Methods Baseline satisfaction with life was assessed using the Satisfaction With Life Scale (n =...

Associations of educational level and intelligence with age at onset and age at treatment of alcohol use disorders (AUD) are sparsely investigated; however, knowledge about these associations is important for an enhanced understanding of AUD. This study aimed to examine three measures of timing of AUD: estimated age at onset of alcohol problems, ag...

Aims Intelligence and education have both been associated with body mass index. However, few longitudinal studies have simultaneously investigated the importance of intelligence and education for changes in body mass index (BMI) over time. Methods This longitudinal study included 1536 Danish men with information about intelligence, educational lev...

Nonrandom mating in parents with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder increases the population-level genetic variance among the offspring generation and creates familial (risk) environments likely to be shaped by specific conditions. The objective of this study was to investigate the occurrence of mental disorder and levels of cognitive and social fun...

Study objectives To examine whether baseline sleep quality is associated with baseline symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and level of functioning, and whether baseline sleep quality and improvement of sleep quality are specific predictors of change in PTSD symptoms and level of functioning. Methods Data were derived from a four-arme...

From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in di...

From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in di...

Sleep disturbances are frequently part of the symptomatology in refugees with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It has been suggested that targeting sleep disturbances may enhance the outcome of PTSD treatment. However, randomized studies on the effect of treatment focusing on sleep disturbances in refugees with PTSD are lacking. The aim of th...

Background The Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) is a commonly used questionnaire to assess anxiety and depression in trauma-affected refugees. Despite numerous studies evaluating criterion validity and reliability, few studies have assessed the construct validity of the scale. Methods The current study conducted a Rasch analysis based on res...

Background: Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a significant trauma that may have lifelong impact. Due to the long-term negative personal and societal consequences of CSA, it is crucial to find treatments with enduring outcomes. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the relative long-term efficacy of psychodynamic and systemic group therap...