Norbert Schmitz

norbert.schmitz@mcgill.ca

Office:

Room F-2115, FBC Pavilion

6875 Boulevard Lasalle
Montréal, QC
H4H 1R3

(514) 761-6131 x3379

Fax:

(514) 888-4064

Lab website:

https://www.mcgill.ca/mentalepi/

Research area:

Clinical Research / Human Research

Psychosocial Research / Population Research

Research Theme:

Mental Health and Society

PhD, Full Professor
McGill University
Douglas Mental Health University Institute
Department of Psychiatry
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Mental health epidemiology lab

Research Summary

My research program currently focuses on three topics in mental health research:

i) I am directing (PI) three CIHR funded longitudinal community studies: the Montreal Diabetes Health and Well-Being Study (DHS), the Evaluation of Diabetes Treatment Study (EDIT) and the Emotional well-being, metabolic factors and health status (EMHS) study. These studies include an interdisciplinary team of Co-Investigators who have expertise in endocrinology, nutrition, psychiatry, physical activity, epidemiology and genetics. Furthermore, I am Co-PI of a prospective catchment area study (ZEPSOM).

ii) Psychiatric Epidemiology: My research activities involved analyzing data from large national surveys, namely the English Longitudinal Study of Aging, the Canadian National Population Health Survey (NPHS) and its longitudinal cohort and the Canadian Community Health Surveys. Using these data, I have addressed a number of research questions including the (longitudinal) relationship between depression, obesity, psychosocial characteristics, and health status. Depression in the community is an additional focus of interest.

iii) Measurement of health status: I am interested in the development and application of methods for the assessment of health status. This includes the evaluation of instruments as well as the development and application of sophisticated psychometric methods to study health outcomes (e.g., item response theory, structural regression models, latent class analysis, hierarchical linear models, and classification and regression trees). Applications include the interactions of risk factors for impaired functioning.

Key Publications

Schmitz, N., Gariepy, G., Smith, K. J., Malla, A., Boyer, R., Strychar, I., Lesage, A. & Wang, J. L. (2014). Longitudinal Relationships Between Depression and Functioning in People with Type 2 Diabetes. Annals of Behavioral Medicine 47, 172-179.

Schmitz, N., Gariepy, G., Smith, K. J., Clyde, M., Malla, A., Boyer, R., Strychar, I., Lesage, A. & Wang, J. L. (2014). Recurrent Subthreshold Depression in Type 2 Diabetes: An Important Risk Factor for Poor Health Outcomes. Diabetes Care 37, 970-978.

Gariepy, G., Blair, A., Kestens, Y. & Schmitz, N. (2014). Neighbourhood characteristics and 10-year risk of depression in Canadian adults with and without a chronic illness. Health & place 30, 279-286.

Au, B., Smith, K. J., Gariepy, G. & Schmitz, N. (2014). C-reactive protein, depressive symptoms, and risk of diabetes: Results from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). Journal of Psychosomatic Research 77, 180-186.

Schmitz, N., Gariepy, G., Smith, K. J., Malla, A., Wang, J. L., Boyer, R., Strychar, I., & Lesage, A. (2013). The pattern of depressive symptoms in people with type 2 diabetes: A prospective community study. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 74(2), 128-134.

Schmitz, N., Gariepy, G., Smith, K. J., Malla, A., Boyer, R., Strychar, I., Lesage, A., & Wang, J. L. (2013). Trajectories of Self-Rated Health in People with Diabetes: Associations with Functioning in a Prospective Community Sample. Plos One, 8(12).

Badawi, G., Page, V., Smith, K. J., Gariepy, G., Malla, A., Wang, J., Boyer, R., Strychar, I., Lesage, A., & Schmitz, N. (2013). Self-rated health: A predictor for the three year incidence of major depression in individuals with Type II diabetes. Journal of Affective Disorders, 145(1), 100-105.

Wang, J. L., Patten, S. B., Currie, S., Sareen, J., & Schmitz, N. (2012). A Population-based Longitudinal Study on Work Environmental Factors and the Risk of Major Depressive Disorder. American Journal of Epidemiology, 176(1), 52-59.

Gariepy, G., Malla, A., Wang, J., Messier, L., Strychar, I., Lesage, A., & Schmitz, N. (2012). Types of smokers in a community sample of individuals with Type 2 diabetes: a latent class analysis. Diabetic Medicine, 29(5), 586-592.

Gariepy, G., Wang, J. L., Lesage, A. D., & Schmitz, N. (2010). The longitudinal association from obesity to depression: results from the 12-year National Population Health Survey. Obesity, 18(5), 1033-1038.

Gariepy, G., Nitka, D., & Schmitz, N. (2010). The association between obesity and anxiety disorders in the population: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Obesity, 34(3), 407-419.

Wang, J. L., Schmitz, N., Dewa, C., & Stansfeld, S. (2009). Changes in Perceived Job Strain and the Risk of Major Depression: Results From a Population-based Longitudinal Study. American Journal of Epidemiology, 169(9), 1085-1091.

Schmitz, N., Boyer, R., Nitka, D., Messier, L., Gariepy, G., Strychar, I., Malla, A., Lesage, A., & Wang, J. L. (2009). Association Between Neighborhood-Level Deprivation and Disability in a Community Sample of People With Diabetes. Diabetes Care, 32(11), 1998-2004.

Schmitz, N., & Kruse, J. (2007). The SF-36 summary scores and their relation to mental disorders: Physical functioning may affect performance of the summary scores. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 60(2), 163-170.

Schmitz, N., Ashok, M. A., Ross, N. B. D., Archie, S., & Zipursky, R. (2007). Inconsistency in the relationship between duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) and negative symptoms: Sorting out the problem of heterogeneity. Schizophrenia Research, 93(1-3), 152-159.