Estela Jiménez López

• Researcher at University of Castilla-La Mancha

Food insecurity is a growing public health concern, particularly among vulnerable groups such as adolescents, and it has been linked to poor nutritional outcomes and increased risk of chronic diseases. The Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) is recognized for its numerous health benefits, yet few studies have explored the association between food insecuri...

Objective The current study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the relationships between social network (SN) use, messaging apps use, and addictive behaviors related to SNs, and sleep-related problems in a sample of Spanish adolescents. Methods This was a cross-sectional study using data from the Eating Healthy and Daily Life Activities (...

Objective: To examine the associations between gradients of average daily temperature and sunlight hours with daily steps over a 35-week period in school-aged children and to evaluate whether there were differences by sex. Methods: We conducted a follow-up study involving 655 children (50.8% girls, mean age 10.45 ± 0.95 years) from six public prima...

Importance Recent evidence syntheses have supported the protective role of daily steps in decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. However, step count–based recommendations should cover additional health outcomes. Objective To synthesize the associations between objectively measured daily step counts and depression in...

Background Cariprazine (CAR), an antipsychotic with partial agonism at the D3 receptor and higher affinity than dopamine, has shown significant procognitive effects in preclinical animal studies. This study systematically reviews CAR's effects on cognitive measures in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Methods Two independent review...

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between different screen time (ST)-related behaviors and mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and stress. In addition, this study aimed to determine the moderating role of socioeconomic status (SES). This was a cross-sectional study and included data from 620 adolescents, aged 1...

This cohort study aimed to analyze the relationship between nut consumption and the risk of all-cause dementia in adults from the United Kingdom (UK). Data from participants in the UK Biobank cohort between 2007–2012 (baseline) and 2013–2023 (follow-up) were analyzed. Baseline information on nut consumption was obtained using the Oxford WebQ 24-h q...

Purpose: The 20-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children and Adolescents (CES-DC) is an instrument for screening of depression with good psychometric properties. This study aimed to examine the construct validity in terms of structural and convergent validity, the internal consistency, and the concurrent validity of a s...

Objective The aim of this study was twofold: first, to examine the association between perceived barriers to physical activity (PA) practice and depression, anxiety and stress in a sample of Spanish adolescents; and second, to determine which barriers are specifically associated with depression, anxiety and stress. Methods This cross-sectional stu...

Objective: To examine the dose-response relationship between average daily temperature and sunlight hours with daily steps across a 35-week period in school-aged children, and to evaluate whether there were differences by sex. Methods: We conducted a follow-up study involving 655 children (50.8% girls, mean age 10.45 ± 0.95) from six public primary...

Objectives: Eating disorders (EDs) have emerged as a growing public health concern. However, the role of sleep in this context remains underexplored. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to determine the associations between sleep parameters and chronotype with ED risk in a sample of university students in Spain. Methods: ED risk was assessed...

Background: Associations between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), screen time, psychological well-being, executive functions, and academic achievement have been reported, however, few studies have analysed models considering the effect of all these variables on academic achievement. This study aims to analyse the direct and indirect associations o...

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the association of family meals and social eating behavior with disordered eating behavior in Spanish adolescents. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that included 706 adolescents (43.9% boys) from the Eating Habits and Daily Life Activities (EHDLA) study (aged 12 to 17) from Valle de Ricote, Reg...

This study analyzed the association between different types of violence victimization and ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption and explored the mediating role of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use on these associations. Cross-sectional study with Brazilian students aged 13–17. Participants reported their UPF consumption, bullying and physical...

Context High adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) has been associated with a reduced risk of depression in prospective cohort studies, but whether MD interventions are effective among adults with depression is uncertain. Objective This study aimed to synthesize findings on the effects of MD interventions on the severity of depressive symptoms...

Background Cariprazine is a recently incorporated drug whose differential characteristic is its partial agonism for the D3 receptor, with great affinity for it, higher than dopamine itself. Preclinical studies with animal models have shown a manifest pro cognitive effect. The objective of this study is to conduct a systematic review examining the e...

Depression and anxiety are prevalent and disabling conditions among adolescents. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) and depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms in adolescents. This cross-sectional study included a sample of 698 adolescent students from a region of Spain (mean age...

Tree nuts and peanuts have shown cardioprotective effects through the modulation of blood lipid levels. Despite the abundance of scientific evidence available, it remains uncertain whether the type of nut consumed influences these changes. The objective of this study was to evaluate and rank the effects of six types of nuts on total cholesterol (to...

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to analyze the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) and its dietary components and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a sample of Spanish adolescents. A total sample of 634 adolescents was included (mean age: 13.96 ± 1.54 years; 56.9% girls). The Mediterranean Diet Qualit...

Background & aims Evidence on the association between nut consumption and depression is mainly based on cross-sectional studies. This study aims to analyse whether nut consumption is prospectively associated with the risk of depression in adults. Methods This study was conducted using the United Kingdom (UK) Biobank resource. Data from middle-aged...

The objective of this study was to examine whether the use and addiction of social networks are associated with disordered eating in Spanish adolescents. A cross-sectional study was carried out using data from the Eating Healthy and Daily Life Activities study. The final sample included 653 adolescents (44.0% boys). Social network use (i.e., Facebo...

Objective: The objective of this paper is to describe the protocol of a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) that will evaluate the effects of a lifestyle-based intervention. The Archena Infancia Saludable project will have several objectives. The primary objective of this project is to determine the 6-month effects of a lifestyle-based interv...

Background: Chemotherapy-induced alopecia could cause significant psychological changes, affecting patients' quality of life and their capacity to cope with the disease. Objectives: The aims of this study was to analyze the effectiveness of scalp cooling (SC) to prevent chemotherapy-induced alopecia in patients with breast cancer and to compare...

Objectives: The aim of this study was twofold: a) to establish the prevalence of adolescents with disordered eating and b) to determine the factors associated with this prevalence in a sample of Spanish adolescents from the Valle de Ricote (Region of Murcia, Spain). Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from 730 adolescents (56.2% girls...

Background Although evidence suggests that ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption may trigger addictive behaviors, the association between UPF intake and psychoactive substances remains unclear among adolescents, a group especially vulnerable to addiction and its potentially harmful effects on health. Objective To analyze the association between t...

Background and Hypothesis It is argued that availability of diagnostic models will facilitate a more rapid identification of individuals who are at a higher risk of first episode psychosis (FEP). Therefore, we developed, evaluated, and validated a diagnostic risk estimation model to classify individual with FEP and controls across six countries. S...

Background: People with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) frequently present cognitive impairments. Here, we investigated whether the exposome score for schizophrenia (ES-SCZ) - a cumulative environmental exposure score - was associated with impairments of neurocognition, social cognition, and perception in patients with SSD, their unaffected...

Importance The 5-item Sick, Control, One, Fat, Food (SCOFF) questionnaire is the most widely used screening measure for eating disorders. However, no previous systematic review and meta-analysis determined the proportion of disordered eating among children and adolescents. Objective To establish the proportion among children and adolescents of dis...

Objective This study examined the association between family meals and social eating behaviour with depression, anxiety and stress symptoms among Spanish adolescents. Methods This was a cross-sectional study with data obtained from a representative sample of adolescents aged 12 to 17 years from Valle de Ricote, Murcia, Spain. Emotional symptomatolo...

Scientific literature has suggested positive associations between the Mediterranean diet (MD) and the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in young populations. However, to our knowledge, this relationship is unexplored during a situation of social isolation (i.e., lockdown). The objective of the current study is to examine the relationship betwe...

Background: Dystrophinopathies are associated with neuropsychiatric disorders due to alterations in dystrophin/DMD expression. Objective: The objective was to estimate the association of developmental disorders, autism spectrum disorders (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, anxiety disorders, and obsessive-compulsi...

Abstract: The objective of this study was to analyze the association between ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption and mental health symptoms in a nationally representative sample of the Brazilian adolescent student population. Cross-sectional analyses with data from the National School-Based Health Survey (PeNSE 2019) were performed. Self-reporte...

Aim To estimate the global prevalence of intellectual developmental disorder (IDD) and the IDD prevalence–genotype association in Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) or Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) according to the affected isoforms of the DMD gene: Dp427, Dp140, Dp71. Method Systematic searches in MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and the Cochran...

The associations between Mediterranean diet (MD) adherence and depression levels have been synthesized from observational studies. However, a systematic review with meta-analysis including randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on this relationship in adults with depressive disorders remains lacking. This protocol was conducted according to the Prefer...

Nut consumption and sleep quality in middle-aged and older UK adults.

Eating disorders are severe and potentially life-threatening illnesses affecting people through the life span, with a specific influence on both the physical and psychological development of the young population.

Background Both dietary and sleep patterns can influence both blood pressure levels and heart rate, but these associations have been understudied in adolescents. Furthermore, it is not known whether diet and sleep could exert a synergistic effect with respect to the maintenance of optimal BP levels in this population. Objective To investigate the...

Schizophrenia is frequently accompanied with social cognitive disturbances. Cannabis represents one established environmental factor associated with the onset and progression of schizophrenia. The present cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the association of facial emotion recognition (FER) performance with cannabis use in 2039 patients wit...

Background No clear evidence is available for the influence of napping on cognitive function in older adults. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to elucidate the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between napping and cognitive function (global cognition and memory) and to explore whether some individual characteristics and s...

Importance: The role of healthy eating in the association between excess weight and psychosocial health among children is unknown. Objective: To investigate whether a diet based on healthy eating habits moderates the association between excess weight and psychosocial problems in a large sample of children in Spain. Design, setting, and particip...

Purpose The aim of the current study was twofold: first, to determine the prevalence of anxiety-induced sleep disturbances among Argentine adolescents according to sex, and second, to identify the association between these sleep disturbances and lifestyle behaviors in this population. Methods This is a cross-sectional study with data from the Glob...

Context: Dietary patterns play a key role in mental health, depression, and mood state. However, the evidence concerning specific foods highly recommended for mental health, such as nuts, has not yet been synthesized. Objective: The objective of this review was to synthesize the evidence for a relationship between higher levels of nut consumptio...

Cortisol levels are implicated in emotional and cognitive development in children. However, it is not clear whether daytime napping influences cortisol levels in early childhood. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to synthesize the available evidence regarding the association between daytime napping and salivary cortisol in early childh...

There are discrepancies about if the severity of the symptomatology in schizophrenia is related to neurocognitive performance, functional outcome, and quality of life (QoL). Also, there are controversial data about the comparison between euthymic bipolar patients and different subgroups of schizophrenia in neurocognition, functioning, and QoL level...

Diagnostic categories do not completely reflect the heterogeneous expression of psychosis. Using data from the EU-GEI study, we evaluated the impact of schizophrenia polygenic risk score (SZ-PRS) and patterns of cannabis use on the transdiagnostic expression of psychosis. We analysed first-episode psychosis patients (FEP) and controls, generating t...

Background: Social cognition impairments, such as facial emotion recognition (FER), have been acknowledged since the earliest description of schizophrenia. Here, we tested FER as an intermediate phenotype for psychosis using two approaches that are indicators of genetic risk for schizophrenia: the proxy-genetic risk approach (family design) and th...

Important questions remain about the profile of cognitive impairment in psychotic disorders across adulthood and illness stages. The age-associated profile of familial impairments also remains unclear, as well as the effect of factors, such as symptoms, functioning, and medication. Using cross-sectional data from the EU-GEI and GROUP studies, compr...

The network meta-analysis and systematic review conducted aim to comparatively assess the effects of tree nuts and peanuts on body weight (BW), body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and body fat percentage (BF%). A systematic search up to 31 December 2020 was performed. A random-effects network meta-analysis was conducted following the P...

Maternity and pregnancy involve significant biopsychosocial changes in the lives of women. These changes determine their experience of motherhood and can be a crucial aspect in the choice of parenting style. Women require a source of knowledge and support that goes beyond the technical, clinical environment, led by qualified nurses for holistic and...

Background A cumulative environmental exposure score for schizophrenia (exposome score for schizophrenia [ES-SCZ]) may provide potential utility for risk stratification and outcome prediction. Here, we investigated whether ES-SCZ was associated with functioning in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder, unaffected siblings, and healthy contr...

Objective/Background Work-related rumination and worry are indicators of occupational stress which can impact sleep when they occur close to bedtime. This study examined the relationship between these repetitive thoughts before sleep with objective and subjective sleep parameters. Methods A microlongitudinal study was carried out with schoolteache...

The study aimed to determine the longitudinal association between retirement and cognitive function, including global cognition and memory-related skills. This is a systematic review of longitudinal studies on the association between retirement and cognitive function, using Medline (via PubMed), Scopus, Web of Science and PsycINFO databases from in...

We aimed to examine the trajectory of psychosocial functioning in a sample of euthymic patients with bipolar disorder (BD) throughout a 5-year follow-up. Ninety-nine euthymic bipolar patients and 40 healthy controls (HC) were included. A neurocognitive assessment (17 neurocognitive measures grouped in 6 domains) was carried out at baseline. The spl...

Objective To evaluate the fat but fit conceptual model, testing whether this paradigm for BMI and VO2max exists in schoolchildren and whether executive functions mediate the relationship between fat but fit categories and academic achievement. Study Design Cluster cross-sectional analyses of data from 554 children aged 9 to 11 from Cuenca, Spain....

Aims Psychosis spectrum disorder has a complex pathoetiology characterised by interacting environmental and genetic vulnerabilities. The present study aims to investigate the role of gene–environment interaction using aggregate scores of genetic (polygenic risk score for schizophrenia (PRS-SCZ)) and environment liability for schizophrenia (exposome...

Background There is evidence that environmental and genetic risk factors for schizophrenia spectrum disorders are transdiagnostic and mediated in part through a generic pathway of affective dysregulation. Methods We analysed to what degree the impact of schizophrenia polygenic risk (PRS-SZ) and childhood adversity (CA) on psychosis outcomes was co...

Background This study attempted to replicate whether a bias in probabilistic reasoning, or ‘jumping to conclusions’(JTC) bias is associated with being a sibling of a patient with schizophrenia spectrum disorder; and if so, whether this association is contingent on subthreshold delusional ideation. Methods Data were derived from the EUGEI project,...

Introducción: Las mujeres afrontan la maternidad como un reto al que deben adaptarse para conseguir el mejor estado de salud posible para ellas y sus hijos en un ambiente sanitario altamente medicalizado y dentro de una sociedad que establece un ideal de maternidad que condiciona sus experiencias sin tener en cuenta sus expectativas. Objetivos: con...

Objectives Previous research has studied the influence of physical fitness on academic achievement through executive functions. However, the nature of this relationship remains unclear. This study aimed to analyze how cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and executive functions are associated with academic achievement and to examine whether the relation...

Background Functional impairment is commonly encountered among patients with bipolar disorder (BD) during periods of remission. The distribution of the impairment of the functional outcome is heterogeneous. The objective of this current investigation was to identify neurocognitive and clinical predictors of psychosocial functioning in a sample of p...

Background To estimate the strength of the cross‐sectional and longitudinal association between arterial stiffness, measured by pulse‐wave velocity, and cognitive function, distinguishing between global cognition, executive functions, and memory and to examine the influence of demographic, clinical, and assessment characteristics on this relationsh...

This study examined the association between key components of physical fitness with inhibition and cognitive flexibility in preschoolers. This was a cross-sectional study of 362 Spanish preschoolers. The key components of physical fitness and executive functioning were measured. The partial correlation controlling for body mass index and family soc...

Introduction: White noise speech illusions index liability for psychotic disorder in case–control comparisons. In the current study, we examined i) the rate of white noise speech illusions in siblings of patients with psychotic disorder and ii) to what degree this rate would be contingent on exposure to known environmental risk factors (childhood a...

Introduction In recent years, important advances have been made in the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). This protocol proposes a methodology for carrying out a systematic review and meta-analysis that aims to: (1) improve the evidence of the benefits of different pharmacological treatments in boys with DMD, and (2) compare the benefi...

Background First-degree relatives of patients with psychotic disorder have higher levels of polygenic risk (PRS) for schizophrenia and higher levels of intermediate phenotypes. Methods We conducted, using two different samples for discovery ( n = 336 controls and 649 siblings of patients with psychotic disorder) and replication ( n = 1208 controls...

This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to compare the effect of High-Glycemic Index (GI) versus Low-GI breakfasts on cognitive functions, including memory and attention, of children and adolescents. We systematically searched the MEDLINE (via PubMed), EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Rev...

The objective of the study was to examine the cognitive profile of Spanish patients with a first episode of schizophrenia (FESz) and to compare that to the profile of patients with a chronic schizophrenia (CSz) and non-psychiatric (NP) control subjects. The study included 106 FESz, 293 CSz, and 210 NP, assessed with the Spanish version of the MATRI...

Schizophrenia is a heritable complex phenotype associated with a background risk involving multiple common genetic variants of small effect and a multitude of environmental exposures. Early twin and family studies using proxy‐genetic liability measures suggest gene‐environment interaction in the etiology of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, but the...

Background Although physical activity (PA) integrated in schools’ classrooms have shown a positive effect on children’s behaviors, its effectiveness on cognitive functions, PA levels and other health variables remains unclear. This article outlines the rationale and methods of two classroom-based PA interventions (MOVI-da10!) on improving adiposity...

Background: Cannabis use is associated with increased risk of later psychotic disorder but whether it affects incidence of the disorder remains unclear. We aimed to identify patterns of cannabis use with the strongest effect on odds of psychotic disorder across Europe and explore whether differences in such patterns contribute to variations in the...

BACKGROUND: Bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia (SZ) are characterized by neurocognitive and functional deficits with marked heterogeneity. It has been suggested that BD with a history of psychotic symptoms (BD-P) could constitute a phenotypically homogeneous subtype characterized by greater neurocognitive and functional impairments, or by a di...

Background The neurocognitive trajectory in bipolar disorder (BD) is variable, with controversial findings, and most evidence come from cross-sectional studies. We aimed to examine the course of neurocognitive functioning in a sample of euthymic BD patients in comparison with a control group during a 5-year follow-up. Methods Ninety-nine euthymic...

Background: More than 50% of individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) do not reach full psychosocial functioning, even during periods of euthymia. It has been suggested that history of psychotic symptoms is one of the factors which are associated with a worse functional outcome. The objective was to compare psychosocial functioning between patients...

Background It has been suggested that patients with bipolar disorder with psychotic symptoms (BD-P) have larger neurocognitive impairment than patients with bipolar disorder without a history of psychotic symptoms (BD-NP). The objective of this study was to compare neurocognitive performance of BD-P and BD-NP relative to a group of patients with sc...

Objective: To examine emotion processing in euthymic bipolar patients (EBP) compared to healthy controls. In addition, to determine whether or not there is an association between emotion processing and psychosocial functioning. Material and methods: A sample of 60 EBP and 60 healthy controls matched for age, gender, education level, and premorbi...

Recent years have seen considerable progress in epidemiological and molecular genetic research into environmental and genetic factors in schizophrenia, but methodological uncertainties remain with regard to validating environmental exposures, and the population risk conferred by individual molecular genetic variants is small. There are now also a l...