Solja Niemelä
Associate Professor (Addiction Medicine)
solnie@utu.fi +358 40 528 1725 Kunnallissairaalantie 20 Turku ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1130-9161 |
Addiction Medicine; Addiction Psychiatry; Psychosis and substance use; Dual Diagnosis; Substance-induced Psychosis; Prescription Medicine Misuse; Epidemiology
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Finnish Matriculation Examination, Madetoja Music High school, Oulu, 1989
Licentiate of Medicine (MD), University of Oulu, 1996
Specialist in Psychiatry, University of Turku, 2003
Special competence in Addiction Medicine, Finnish Medical Association, 2005
Doctor of Medical Sciences (PhD), University of Turku, 2008
Adjunct Professor (Psychiatry), University of Turku, 2011
Special competence in Medical Education, Finnish Medical Association, 2012
PRESENT POSITION
Associate Professor, tenure-track (Addiction Medicine), Department of Psychiatry, University of Turku, 1.3.2019-
Senior Physician, Addiction Psychiatry Unit, Turku University Hospital, Finland, 1.8.2018-
Chair: Board of the Special competence in Addiction Medicine, Finnish Society of Addiction Medicine, 2013-
Board member: Finnish Society of Addiction Medicine 2016 -
Board member, Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies, 2017-
Deputy Board Member, A-Clinic Foundation, 2018-
My research group Turku Psychosis and Substance Use (TuPSU) focuses on epidemiology of substance use and psychosis.
Research questions under study include e.g.:
Does adolescent substance use associate with increased risk for subsequent psychotic disorders or other severe outcomes in adulthood?
What is the prognosis of incident substance-induced psychosis and is it different from other types of first-episode psychosis?
We aim to utilize national register-based datasets, which enable to study substance-induced psychosis and co-occuring substance use among persons with psychotic disorders with minimal attrition, in these otherwise difficult-to-reach populations.
The ongoing reserarch projects include:
- Prognosis of adolescent substance use in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986. A general population study with ongoing register-linkage follow-up. (PI)
- Substance-induced psychosis in Swedish national registeries (SIP-project). A register-linkage study of 7320 cases with substance-induced psychosis. In collaboration with A/Prof Heidi Taipale from the Karolinska Instute, Stockholm. Sweden. (PI)
- Substance use in the Turku University Hospital Datalake. Extensive patient record -based dataset with over 34,000 persons with substance-use-related admission at the Turku University Hospital. (PI)
- Substance use and dual diagnosis in the Finnish SUPER study including 10, 470 patients with psychotic disorders. In collaboration with Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).
- COVALC-consortium to study alcohol-related service use during the COVID19-pandemia. In collaboration with National Health Instutute (THL).
- Health Survey of Finnish Prisoners (WATTU IV). In collaboration with National Health Instutute (THL).
- Adolescent alcohol and cannabis use and early adulthood educational attainment in the 1986 Northern Finland birth cohort study (2024)
- BMC Public Health
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Association of antidepressant and benzodiazepine use, and anticholinergic burden with cognitive performance in schizophrenia (2024)
- Schizophrenia Research
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Characteristics of incident substance-induced psychosis compared to first-episode psychotic disorders: A nationwide register-linkage study from Sweden (2024)
- Schizophrenia Research
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Adolescent alcohol and cannabis use as risk factors for head trauma in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort study 1986 (2023)
- European Journal of Public Health
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Antipsychotic use and associating factors among persons with substance-induced psychosis and first-episode psychosis. A nationwide register-linkage study (2023)
- Basic and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology
(Other (O2)) - Association of ADHD symptoms in adolescence and mortality in Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (2023)
- Nordic Journal of Psychiatry
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Associations of Adolescent Alcohol Use and Self-Reported Alcohol Tolerance With Risk of Self-Harm and Suicide in Early Adulthood: A Birth-Cohort Study (2023)
- Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Attention deficit hyperactivity and oppositional defiant disorder symptoms in adolescence and risk of substance use disorders-A general population-based birth cohort study (2023)
- Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Psychotic-Like Experiences and Concurrent Substance Use Among People Who Use New Psychoactive Substances (2023)
- Substance Use and Misuse
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Substance Use and Sleep Problems in Patients With Psychotic Disorders (2023)
- Schizophrenia Bulletin Open
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Tahdosta riippumattoman päihdehoidon hyödyt ja haitat tulee punnita (2023)
- Lääkärilehti
(Refereed review article in scientific journal (A2)) - Alcohol use in adolescence as a risk factor for overdose in the 1986 Northern Finland Birth Cohort Study (2022)
- European Journal of Public Health
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Annual incidence of substance-induced psychoses in Scandinavia from 2000 to 2016 (2022)
- Psychological Medicine
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Benefits and risks of off label use of antipsychotics in insomnia and anxiety - APSY Oulu project (2022)
- Nordic Journal of Psychiatry
(Other (O2)) - Buprenorphine-naloxone abuse among participants in the needle exchange programme. A Finnish time-trend study from 2008 to 2018 (2022)
- Heroin Addiction And Related Clinical Problems
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Cannabis and Intentional Self-injury: a Narrative Review (2022)
- Current Addiction Reports
(Refereed review article in scientific journal (A2)) - Characteristics of incident substance-induced psychosis compared to incident first-episode psychosis. A nationwide register-linkage study (2022)
- European Psychiatry
(Other (O2)) - Does cannabis use in adolescence predict self-harm or suicide? Results from a Finnish Birth Cohort Study (2022)
- Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Exposure to alcohol and overall survival in head and neck cancer: A regional cohort study (2022)
- Head and Neck
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Is early exposure to cannabis associated with bipolar disorder? Results from a Finnish birth cohort study (2022)
- Addiction
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1))