Maria Melchior

French Institute of Health and Medical Research | Inserm · Pierre Louis Institute for Epidemiology and Public Health (IPLESP)

Background Several countries are expanding their paternity leave policies, which can have positive effects on parental mental health. We examined whether 2 weeks of paid paternity leave are associated with post-partum depression in mothers and fathers at 2 months after the birth of their child. Methods We used data from the Etude Longitudinale Fra...

The COVID-19 pandemic has had negative consequences on the mental health of the population, which has been documented. Marginalised groups that are at risk of poor mental health overall have been particularly impacted. The purpose of this review is to describe the mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on marginalised group (i.e. persons who...

Food insecurity affects 14% of US homes with children and has been associated with increased mental health problems. Few studies have examined long-term consequences for mental health and the role of social policies. This study examined the association between childhood household food insecurity (HHFI) and young adult psychological distress, and th...

Mitigating the COVID-19 related disruptions in mental health care services is crucial in a time of increased mental health disorders. Numerous reviews have been conducted on the process of implementing technology-based mental health care during the pandemic. The research question of this umbrella review was to examine what the impact of COVID-19 wa...

Although smoking prevalence has been decreasing worldwide, sustained tobacco cessation remains a challenging goal for many smokers. Several types of tobacco cessation aids are available such as nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and electronic cigarette, the effectiveness of the latter is still a matter of debate. This study aims to test difference...

•Symptoms of anxiety/depression were found in 28.8% of the participants at least once.•Unemployment and financial difficulties were associated with anxiety/depression.•Targeted mental health support could lessen mental health impact.

Objective: This study examined the longitudinal association between child sleep disturbances from ages 3 to 16 and smoking in adulthood among subjects from a French cohort study. Methods: Data from 2,134 subjects who participated in the French TEMPO cohort from 1991 to 2018 were used. Sleep disturbances observed from ages 3 to 16 years defined o...

Background The nature of the relationship between maternal tobacco smoking during pregnancy and the occurrence of children's behavioural problems is still a matter of controversy. We tested this association using data collected among a sample of children followed from pregnancy to early adolescence (age 11.5 years), accounting for multiple parents’...

Background Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected people including a significant increase in mental health difficulties. Cigarette smoking is found to be strongly associated with mental health conditions, which is why the pandemic might have influenced the secular decline in smoking rates observed over recent years. Persons belongin...

Background Early childcare has been linked to child development in some countries. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of early childcare in the French context, where children can attend different types of childcare facilities prior to age 3 when they enter kindergarten, and development at age 3.5 years. Methods 10,683 children from th...

Objective To examine the relationship between young adults' labor force participation and depression in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design, setting, participants Data come from the nationally-representative EPICOV cohort study set up in France, and were collected in 2020 and 2021 (3 waves of online or telephone interviews: 02/05/2020–12/...

Background: Parental leave policies have been hypothesized to benefit mothers' mental health. We assessed the impact of a 6-week extension of parental leave in Denmark on maternal mental health. Methods: We linked individual-level data from Danish national registries on maternal sociodemographic characteristics and psychiatric diagnoses. A regre...

Background and aims The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has challenged health services worldwide, with a worsening of healthcare workers’ mental health within initial pandemic hotspots. In early 2022, the Omicron variant is spreading rapidly around the world. This study explores the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a stepped-care programme...

Background To study the longitudinal impact of co-occurring mental health problems, and to identify vulnerable groups in need of mental health support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Analyses were based on data from 681 French participants in the international COVID-19 Mental Health Study, collected at four times (05/2020–04/2021). Symptoms...

The concept of empowerment in sexual health is widely used in health promotion. This scoping review aims to identify how it is defined and measured. PubMed, Sage Journals, PsycInfo and the Web of Science are data sources. The inclusion criteria for studies were as follows: (1) an analysis of empowerment in sexual health, (2) quantitative evaluation...

Purpose To examine prospectively associations between substance use and subsequent employment among young students. Methods From the French population-based CONSTANCES cohort, 1427 students who never worked were included between 2012 and 2018 and followed up for 2.1 years on average. Generalized estimating equations computed the odds of being unem...

Introduction It remains unclear whether substance use in youth could be associated with a lower likelihood of accessing employment. Objectives To examine prospectively associations between substance use and the risk of not getting employed among young people. Methods From the French population-based CONSTANCES cohort, 2,873 students who never wor...

Introduction We conducted a national longitudinal survey among healthcare workers in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, (1) to assess mental health and (2) to describe the results of an intervention to improve capacity of resilience. Non-participation is rarely studied despite being an important methodological matter when performing studies on m...

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic and associated preventive measures have an impact on the persons’ mental health, including increasing risk of symptoms of anxiety and depression in particular. Individual experiencing mental health difficulties in the past could be especially vulnerable during lockdown, however, few studies have tested this empiri...

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic seems associated with a worsening in mental health issues as well as a widening of pre-existing social and health inequalities. Assessment of its impact on suicidal behavior might therefore be relevant. Objectives To assess factors associated with suicidal ideation in the general population, using data from the F...

Introduction Although smoking prevalence has been decreasing worldwide, sustained tobacco cessation remains a challenging goal for many smokers. Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products remain among the most widespread type of cessation tobacco aids, along with the more recently introduced electronic cigarette, the efficiency of which is still a...

Background: Children's energy balance-related behaviours (EBRB), comprising diet, screen time, physical activity, and sleep, combine into "lifestyle patterns", which may exert a synergistic effect on health. To date, studies investigating this synergy have primarily focused on obesity risk, without addressing other facets of health. Objectives:...

Symptomatic COVID-19 appears to be associated with suicidal ideation but longitudinal evidence is still scarce. SARS-CoV2-induced neurological damages might underline this association, but findings are inconsistent. We therefore investigated the association between COVID-19 disease and subsequent suicidal ideation in the general population, using b...

Contexte Examiner l'association prospective entre la consommation de tabac, d'alcool et de cannabis et l'obtention d'un emploi chez les demandeurs d'emploi. Méthodes Parmi les participants de la cohorte CONSTANCES en population française, 5114 adultes demandeurs d'emploi compris entre 2012 et 2018 ont été inclus dans les analyses. Des régressions...

This study aimed to examine the prospective association between tobacco, alcohol and cannabis use with attaining employment among unemployed job seekers. Data from the French population-based CONSTANCES cohort on 5114 unemployed job seeking adults enrolled from 2012 to 2018 were analyzed. Binary logistic regressions were computed. Odds ratio (OR) a...

Objectives: To record the prevalence and risk factors of substance use amongst homeless persons during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The ECHO study consisted in two independent cross-sectional waves of data collection in the regions of Paris, Lyon, and Strasbourg during the Spring of 2020 ( n = 530) and 2021 ( n = 319). Factors associated with su...

Background The evolution of smoking rates according to migrant status has not been examined in France, despite a recent reduction in overall smoking rates.Methods DePICT is a two waves (2016: n=4356; 2017: n=4114) nationwide telephone survey, representative of the French adult population We compared smoking-related behaviors before and after implem...

Background Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use has spread among adolescents in many countries, however users’ characteristics are not well known. We aimed to compare characteristics of exclusive e-cigarette users to those of exclusive tobacco users and dual users. Methods Data come from a representative sample of 11–19 years old students in Par...

Objective The COVID-19 epidemic has spread worldwide since December 2019. To contain it, preventive measures including social distancing, economic shutdown, and school closures were introduced, carrying the risk of mental health burden in adults and children. Although the knowledge base regarding children's response to trauma and adverse events in...

PurposeFew studies examined psychosocial risks among immigrants and explored their association with mental health. Our study aims to 1) describe the prevalence of job strain and iso-strain according to migratory status and model the probability of exposure, 2) verify whether the association between job strain, iso strain and anxiety holds for all i...

Background Healthcare workers (HCWs) from COVID-19 hotspots worldwide have reported poor mental health outcomes since the pandemic's beginning. The virulence of the initial COVID-19 surge in Spain and the urgency for rapid evidence constrained early studies in their capacity to inform mental health programs accurately. Here, we used a qualitative r...

Emerging research suggests that the prevalence of child and adolescent mental health problems has increased considerably during the COVID-19 crisis. However, there have been few longitudinal studies on children’s mental health issues according to their social determinants in this context, especially in Europe. Our aim was to investigate the associa...

Résumé Les conditions de la grossesse et de vie dans la petite enfance – notamment les comportements de santé et la santé mentale des parents, sont associées au développement et au devenir à moyen terme des enfants, ce que montrent les données de cohortes longitudinales telles qu’EDEN. En particulier, les données de la cohorte EDEN qui suit des enf...

Background: Persons experiencing unstable housing – including recently arrived migrants – are at elevated risk of contracting COVID-19 and suffer from high morbidity and mortality. In this context, the COVID-19 vaccine was foreseen as a promising way to control the pandemic and reduce social inequalities in this area. Understanding the motives of C...

Background : In Western societies, individuals are increasingly exposed to external stimuli and performance demands. Some individuals are more susceptible than others to both negative and positive environmental conditions. Specifically, high « sensory processing sensitivity » (SPS) can make it difficult to adjust to certain demands. Psychoactive su...

Background Screen media use in early childhood has largely increased in recent years, even more so during the COVID-19 epidemic, and there is much discussion regarding its influence on neurodevelopment, including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Methods We examined the relationship between use of TV, computer, tablet and smartphone at age 2 years a...

Many studies have investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health. Throughout the pandemic, time spent at home increased to a great extent due to restrictive measures. Here we set out to investigate the relationship between housing conditions and the mental health of populations across European countries. We analyzed survey data c...

Objective To examine the relationship between young adults’ labor force participation and depression in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design, Setting, Participants Data come from the nationally-representative EPICOV cohort study set up in France, and were collected in 2020 and 2021 (3 waves of online or telephone interviews) among 2217 par...

Objective: Previous studies on effects of emotional demands on depression have relied on self-reported exposure data and lacked control for potential confounding by pre-employment risk factors for depression. This study used a register-based design to examine the risk of hospital-treated depressive disorder in relation to occupational levels of em...

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic might affect mental health. Data from population-representative panel surveys with multiple waves including pre-COVID data investigating risk and protective factors are still rare. Methods: In a stratified random sample of the German household population (n = 6684), we conducted survey...

Background: Preterm children are at higher risk of developing mental health problems than full-term children. Deterioration of children's mental health was observed during COVID-19 pandemic restrictive measures. Our study compared emotional and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms during school closure between preterm and full-...

The comorbidity between physical and mental health conditions is challenging and frequently goes unrecognized in practice. Associations between Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and physical conditions have been reported in youth. However, prior research failed to: (1) address the patterns of associations in early childhood, middle ch...

Social inequalities tended to increase in the context of the pandemic, particularly in relation to the measures taken to manage and reduce the risk of COVID-19. When lockdown measures required the general population “to stay home”, what were homeless people expected to do? The ECHO study is a cross-sectional, descriptive study with a convergent mix...

Introduction In the pandemic, healthcare professionals face even higher levels of stress. It is therefore a priority to estimate the impact of the pandemic on mental health and to propose targeted strategies to improve resilience. The aims of the study were to (1) assess the mental health of healthcare professionals working with patients with COVID...

Background In northern countries, suicide rates among prisoners are at least three times higher for men and nine times higher for women than in the general population. The objective of this study is to describe the sociodemographic, penal, health characteristics and circumstances of suicide of French prisoners who died by suicide. Methods This stu...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic might affect mental health. Data from population-representative panel surveys with multiple waves including pre-COVID data investigating risk and protective factors are still rare.Methods: In a stratified random sample of the German household population (n=6,684), we conducted survey-weighted multiple linear regres...

Background Compared to smokers with favorable socio-economic position (SEP), those with low SEP are less likely to have a successful smoking cessation attempt. Tailored approaches are therefore needed, and general practitioners could help reaching and assisting usually hard-to-reach population. Method STOP (Sevrage Tabagique à l’aide d’Outils dédi...

(1) Background: Little is known about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted social support and loneliness over time and how this may predict subsequent mental health problems. This study aims to determine longitudinal trajectories of social support and loneliness in the French general population during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and s...

La consommation d’alcool, même à de faibles niveaux, est un fardeau pour la société française sur les plans sanitaire, social et économique. Les moyens alloués à la réduction de sa consommation et à la prise en charge de ses conséquences ne sont pour autant pas à la hauteur des enjeux et ne s’appuient pas assez sur les résultats de la recherche [1]...

Background Although the role of diet is increasingly acknowledged in psychiatry, data is still scarce regarding its early impact on the most significant behavioral disorders of childhood (i.e., hyperactivity-inattention and conduct problems). Objective The objective of this study was to explore the relation between children's dietary patterns at 2...

COVID-19 limitation strategies have led to widespread school closures around the world. The present study reports children’s mental health and associated factors during the COVID-19 school closure in France in the spring of 2020. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using data from the SAPRIS project set up during the COVID-19 pandemic in France...

Background: The EU LifeCycle Project was launched in 2017 to combine, harmonise, and analyse data from more than 250,000 participants across Europe and Australia, involving cohorts participating in the EU-funded LifeCycle Project. The purpose of this cohort description is to provide a detailed overview over the major measures within mental health d...

Background France accounts for one of the highest levels of recreational cannabis use, with almost 40% of youth aged 17 reporting having experimented with cannabis. We investigated the impact of early cannabis experimentation (defined as first-time use ≤ 16 years) on future probability of unemployment in young to mid-adulthood using a longitudinal,...

Background Accumulating evidence suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected global mental health and well-being. However, the impact amongst homeless persons has not been fully evaluated. The ECHO study reports factors associated with depression amongst the homeless population living in shelters in France during the Spring of 2020....

In France, immigrants’ excess of mortality was higher than natives’ during the Spring 2020 lockdown. Were immigrants in frontline jobs and more exposed to Covid-19? Based on a nationally representative survey, we model the probability to work in a frontline job according to migratory status, taking sociodemographic and occupational characteristics...

Background To cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing restrictions where implemented in France, which could have led to social isolation. This is expected to have affected the mental health situation, including increasing risk of symptoms of anxiety and depression in the general population. Persons with prior mental health difficulties c...

Background The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic lead to high levels of morbidity and mortality around the globe. Consequences of this outbreak and possible associated infection are an increase in mental health disorders and an increased likelihood of internalizing problems, particularly depression. However, to date few studies have tested this hyp...

Objective There exists no national French study on suicide attempts among people who use drugs (PWUD). Our objectives are to analyze lifetime suicide attempts in that population and to compare associated risks based on gender. Method The ANRS-Coquelicot study (2011–2013) conducted 1718 interviews with people over 18 who have injected or snorted a...

Social inequalities in health and their early life origins have been extensively documented. Although the complex direct and intermediate mechanisms linking early life disadvantage to later health are not yet fully understood, new findings on biological markers distinctly related with early life experiences suggest a causal relation. In their paper...

Background: Given the high incidence of perinatal maternal depression, implementation of preventive actions is crucial. In France, two prenatal preventive measures are available to the general population: early prenatal interview (EPI) and antenatal classes (ANC). Objective: To explore the independent associations between EPI and / or ANC and ma...

Introduction Many smoking cessation aids such as nicotine replacement treatments and e-cigarettes have been proven effective in aiding smoking cessation attempts. Encouraging smokers with low socioeconomic position (SEP) to choose their smoking aid tool based on their preferences, and giving that tool free of charge, might increase the odds of smok...

Background: COVID-19 limitation strategies have led to widespread school closures around the world. The present study reports children’s mental health and associated factors during the COVID-19 school closure in France in the spring of 2020. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using data from the SAPRIS project set up during the COVID-...

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is frequent and can constitute a barrier to the dissemination of vaccines once they are available. Unequal access to vaccines may also contribute to socioeconomic inequalities with regard to COVID-19. We studied vaccine hesitancy among persons living in homeless shelters in France between May and June 2020 (n=235). Overal...

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is frequent and can constitute a barrier to the dissemination of vaccines once they are available. Unequal access to vaccines may also contribute to socioeconomic inequalities with regard to COVID-19. We studied vaccine hesitancy among persons living in homeless shelters in France between May and June 2020 (n=235). Overal...

Background Accumulating evidence suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected global mental health and well-being. However, the impact amongst homeless persons has not been fully evaluated. The ECHO study reports factors associated with depression amongst the homeless population living in shelters in France during the Spring of 2020....

Objectives The aim of this study is to provide information on changes in mental health among disadvantaged immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa in the Greater Paris area and their level of information about Covid-19. Methods Prior to the Covid-19 epidemic, the Makasi community-based cohort followed 850 immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa in the Great...

L'étude ECHO évalue les connaissances, attitudes et pratiques liées à l'épidémie de Covid-19 et mesure l'impact de cette dernière sur les personnes en situation de précarité vivant en centres d'hébergement en France, dont une grande majorité d'étrangers. Une première vague de cette étude a été menée en mai et juin 2020. Une bonne connaissance des s...

Objective The tobacco industry has been reported to employ sex-specific marketing strategies, which include different types of tobacco packaging, publicity, as well as price strategies. We examined whether characteristics associated with the purchase of more expensive cigarette brands varied by sex, in the context of the introduction of plain tobac...

Children of immigrants may have higher neurodevelopmental risks than those of non-immigrant populations. Yet, some evidence suggests that this group may receive late diagnosis, and therefore miss beneficial early interventions. Clinicians may misattribute symptoms of disorders to other social, behavioral or language problems. Likewise, there might...

Background: We examined the association between probability of work-related violence and first diagnosis of depressive disorder whilst accounting for the potential selection of individuals vulnerable to depression into occupations with high probability of work-related violence. Methods: Based on a pre-published study protocol, we analysed nationwid...

We examine the association between trajectories of childhood adversities and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) using a register-based Danish cohort. The DANish LIFE Course (DANLIFE) cohort includes and prospectively follows all individuals born in Denmark from 1980. We estimated the rate of PTSD diagnosed from age 16, according to childhood adv...