An estimated 93,000 persons were potentially exposed to drinking water contaminated with petroleum jet propellant (JP)-5 fuel after a November 20, 2021, leak at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility on Oahu, Hawaii. Previous investigations identified the need to evaluate long-term mental health effects associated with JP-5 exposure.

We identified adults potentially exposed to jet fuel-contaminated water during November 20, 2021-March 18, 2022, who sought care within the military health system through February 24, 2023. We abstracted a sample of electronic medical records and categorized documented mental health conditions and symptoms as “worsening preexisting” or “persistent new.” We also assessed mental health-related medication use before and after November 20, 2021.

We abstracted medical charts for 411 adults potentially exposed to jet fuel-contaminated water. Of this cohort, 123 (29.9%) had documented worsening preexisting mental health conditions or symptoms, 86 (20.9%) had persistent new mental health conditions or symptoms, and 109 (26.5%) had at least one mental health-related medication prescribed after the exposure event.

These results highlight mental health needs during and after water contamination events. Continued access to mental health care services and monitoring for long-term mental health effects is recommended.

Severe mental disorders, characterized by their progressive course, early onset, and persistent symptoms, pose significant challenges to patients’ well-being and psychosocial functioning. Despite the growing recognition of the importance of comprehensive treatment, psychological therapies remain underutilized in this population in Vietnam. The Tree of Life therapy, a low-cost, evidence-based, and culturally adaptable intervention, offers a holistic perspective on mental health recovery through personal growth, enhanced coping skills, and social connectedness. This study aimed to explore the therapeutic potential of the Tree of Life group therapy for inpatients with severe mental disorders at Hanoi Mental Hospital.

1) To understand the experience of participating in the Tree of Life therapy group for inpatients with severe mental disorders; 2) To explore the perspectives of patients on the hospitalization, inpatient treatment process, their self-perception, life goals and resources before and after participating in the group

Using qualitative methods, we interviewed 30 inpatients about their experiences before and after participating in the therapy. The Tree of Life group was conducted through four 1-hour sessions guided by the original protocol (Ncube, 2006). The study design follows a qualitative approach. After collection, the data was transcribed, coded, and stored as online text. We chose thematic analysis using MAXQDA 24 software for data analysis.

Regarding the Tree of Life group therapy experience, prominent themes emerged, including positive group interactions, relevant content, enhanced health and well-being, therapeutic engagement promotion, and memorable session components. When examining patients’ perspectives on hospitalization, treatment, recovery, self-description, hopes and dreams, and resources, a strong emphasis on family stood out. The family theme was then analysed further to identify subthemes: Family members were perceived as gatekeepers to treatment, sources of love and support, motivations for recovery, active participants and decision-makers in future life plans.

The pilot qualitative study demonstrates the potential therapeutic efficacy of Tree of Life group therapy for patients with severe mental disorders. The findings also highlight the critical role of the family in supporting patients with severe mental disorders and underscore the importance of involving family members in the treatment process in the Vietnam context. However, further randomised controlled trials are required to establish the therapy’s effectiveness on a broader scale and provide robust evidence for clinical implementation.

None Declared

Suicide attempt is a person’s suicidal behavior that does not result in death and may or may not result in injury. Understanding the factors associated with suicide attempts in patients with major depressive disorder is important to predicting future suicide attempts.

To identify the associated factors with suicide attempts in patients with MDD at the University Medicine Center in Vietnam.

This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in the psychiatry clinic of the University Medical Center of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from March to October 2023. Individuals aged 18 and more diagnosed with major depressive disorder as per DSM-5 TR were included. Exclusion criteria were current psychosis, severe intellectual disabilities, and acute medical illnesses.

Participants were interviewed using a questionnaire including sociodemographic criteria, clinical information, and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS).

We collected 151 participants. The average age of participants was 41.3±15.5 years, and they were predominantly female (78.8%) and living in urban areas (62.9%). Nearly four fifths (79.5%) of patients are currently in severe depression. The prevalence of suicide attempts in the lifetime and past 3-months were 7.9% and 5.3% respectively.

In univariate logistic regression analysis of sociodemographic factors and clinical features of depression associated with suicidal attempt among individuals with major depressive disorder, we found that young age (OR=0,91; p=0,004), single status (OR=0,09; p=0,002), early onset of illness (OR=0,91; 95% CI 0,85-0,97), and severe depression as measured by the total HDRS score (OR= 1,19; 95% CI 1,06-1,34). In particular, the risk of a suicide attempt was 72 times higher in patients with a history of self-harm (OR=72,22; 95% CI 13,71-380,49). There was no association between gender, area, education level, cohabitation status and employment status with lifetime prevalence of suicide attempts. After adjusting for covariates using a multivariable logistic regression model, only the severity of depressive episode and history of self-harm remained significantly associated with suicide attempts.

Suicide attempts were significantly high among patients of major depressive disorder in Vietnam. The severity of depression and previous self-harm was significantly associated with it. There is a need for more research and a better understanding of the associated factor with suicide attempts in this population which in turn could lead to the development and implementation of effective preventive interventions.

None Declared

On November 20, 2021, petroleum fuel contaminated the Red Hill well, which provides water to about 93 000 persons on Oahu, Hawaii. Initial investigations recommended further evaluations of long-term health effects of petroleum exposure in drinking water. We reviewed electronic health records of those potentially exposed to contaminated water to understand prevalence of conditions and symptoms.

A sample of persons potentially exposed during November 20, 2021-March 18, 2022 who sought care within the military health system through February 24, 2023 was identified. Abstracted records were categorized as worsening preexisting or persistent new for conditions and symptoms.

Of 653 medical charts reviewed, 357 (55%) had worsening preexisting or persistent new conditions or symptoms. Most-documented conditions included worsening preexisting migraine (8%; 50/653) and chronic pain (4%; 26/653), and persistent new migraine (2%; 14/653) and adjustment disorder (2%; 13/653). Most-documented symptoms included worsening preexisting headache (8%; 49/653) and anxiety (6%; 42/653), and persistent new rash (7%; 46/653) and headache (5%; 34/653).

Approximately half of the abstracted medical records demonstrated worsening preexisting or persistent new conditions or symptoms and might benefit from sustained access to physical, mental, and specialized health care support systems. Continued monitoring for long-term health outcomes is recommended.

Electronic Health Records (EHR) analysis is pivotal in advancing medical research. Numerous real-world EHR data providers offer data access through exported datasets. While enabling profound research possibilities, exported EHR data requires quality control and restructuring for meaningful analysis. Challenges arise in medical events (e.g., diagnoses or procedures) sequence analysis, which provides critical insights into conditions, treatments, and outcomes progression. Identifying causal relationships, patterns, and trends requires a more complex approach to data mining and preparation.

This paper introduces EHRchitect – an application written in Python that addresses the quality control challenges by automating dataset transformation, facilitating the creation of a clean, formatted, and optimized MySQL database (DB), and sequential data extraction according to the user’s configuration.

The tool creates a clean, formatted, and optimized DB, enabling medical event sequence data extraction according to users’ study configuration. Event sequences encompass patients’ medical events in specified orders and time intervals. The extracted data are presented as distributed Parquet files, incorporating events, event transitions, patient metadata, and events metadata. The concurrent approach allows effortless scaling for multi-processor systems.

EHRchitect streamlines the processing of large EHR datasets for research purposes. It facilitates extracting sequential event-based data, offering a highly flexible framework for configuring event and timeline parameters. The tool delivers temporal characteristics, patient demographics, and event metadata to support comprehensive analysis. The developed tool significantly reduces the time required for dataset acquisition and preparation by automating data quality control and simplifying event extraction.