Editorial: From risk prediction to action: leveraging electronic health records to improve pediatric population mental health

Abstract

The identification of child, family, and other environmental factors that confer risk for poor developmental outcomes has long been a major theme in child and adolescent psychopathology research. Over the past 6 decades, the Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry has seen an exponential increase in articles that have included the search term ‘risk prediction’, with 17 such works appearing in the 1960s and 930 occurring in the 2010s. Indeed, the current issue of JCPP continues this trend with a number of high‐quality studies that in some capacity seek to predict poor child and adolescent outcomes on the basis of variables that can be measured earlier in development.

Association between preeclampsia and autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: an intergenerational analysis

“…In conclusion, while unravelling the influences of genetics in this intergenerational association warrants further investigation, our findings suggest that obtaining information on the history of preeclampsia in the mother and the grandmother may allow for more detailed risk stratification for ASD or ADHD in the child (9).…”