In November 2007, a student shot eight people and himself at Jokela High School, Finland. This study aims to evaluate the long-term effects of exposure to a school shooting among adolescents.

Associations between psychological outcomes and background factors were analysed and compared with “comparison students” four months after the incident. A questionnaire including Impact of Event Scale (IES) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-36) was used.

Half of the females and a third of the males suffered from posttraumatic distress. High level of posttraumatic distress (IES ≥ 35), predicting PTSD, was observed in 27% of the females and 7% of the males. The odds ratio was 6.4 (95% confidence interval 3.5–10.5) for having high levels of posttraumatic distress. Severe or extreme exposure and female gender were found to increase the risk. Forty-two percent of the females and 16% of the males had psychiatric disturbance (GHQ ≥ 9). Severe or extreme exposure, older age and female gender increased the risk. Perceived support from family and friends was found to be protective.

The observed risk and protective factors were similar to earlier studies. Follow-up will be essential in identifying factors predicting persisting trauma-related symptoms in adolescence.

To examine the use of vitamin D supplements during infancy among the participants in an international infant feeding trial.

Longitudinal study.

Information about vitamin D supplementation was collected through a validated FFQ at the age of 2 weeks and monthly between the ages of 1 month and 6 months.

Infants (n 2159) with a biological family member affected by type 1 diabetes and with increased human leucocyte antigen-conferred susceptibility to type 1 diabetes from twelve European countries, the USA, Canada and Australia.

Daily use of vitamin D supplements was common during the first 6 months of life in Northern and Central Europe (>80 % of the infants), with somewhat lower rates observed in Southern Europe (>60 %). In Canada, vitamin D supplementation was more common among exclusively breast-fed than other infants (e.g. 71 % v. 44 % at 6 months of age). Less than 2 % of infants in the USA and Australia received any vitamin D supplementation. Higher gestational age, older maternal age and longer maternal education were study-wide associated with greater use of vitamin D supplements.

Most of the infants received vitamin D supplements during the first 6 months of life in the European countries, whereas in Canada only half and in the USA and Australia very few were given supplementation.