1. Psychological problems in children with cerebral palsy: a cross-sectional European study
- Author
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Jérôme Fauconnier, Susan Ishøy Michelsen, Marco Marcelli, Heather O Dickinson, Melanie White-Koning, Vicki McManus, Kathryn Parkinson, Jackie Parkes, Ute Thyen, Eva Beckung, Allan Colver, Catherine Arnaud, Techniques de l'Ingénierie Médicale et de la Complexité - Informatique, Mathématiques et Applications, Grenoble - UMR 5525 (TIMC-IMAG), VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF), Financement européen, and SPARCLE
- Subjects
Male ,Pediatrics ,Cross-sectional study ,MESH: Sick Role ,MESH: Comorbidity ,Comorbidity ,Personality Assessment ,Social Environment ,Disability Evaluation ,MESH: Health Surveys ,0302 clinical medicine ,Quality of life ,Mental Retardation ,MESH: Risk Factors ,Risk Factors ,MESH: Mental Retardation ,MESH: Child ,Developmental and Educational Psychology ,Child ,Referral and Consultation ,MESH: Social Environment ,MESH: Child Behavior Disorders ,Intelligence quotient ,MESH: Disability Evaluation ,Sick Role ,Europe ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,Female ,MESH: Pain ,Psychology ,Social Adjustment ,medicine.medical_specialty ,MESH: Cerebral Palsy ,Pain ,Child Behavior Disorders ,MESH: Personality Assessment ,Peer Group ,Cerebral palsy ,MESH: Referral and Consultation ,03 medical and health sciences ,MESH: Cross-Sectional Studies ,Intellectual Disability ,030225 pediatrics ,medicine ,Humans ,Affective Symptoms ,Sibling ,Psychiatry ,MESH: Affective Symptoms ,MESH: Humans ,Cerebral Palsy ,Siblings ,MESH: Peer Group ,Social environment ,Odds ratio ,medicine.disease ,MESH: Social Adjustment ,Health Surveys ,MESH: Male ,MESH: Siblings ,Cross-Sectional Studies ,Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health ,[SDV.SPEE]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Santé publique et épidémiologie ,MESH: Europe ,MESH: Female ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
Udgivelsesdato: 2008-Apr OBJECTIVES: To describe psychological symptoms in 8-12-year-old children with cerebral palsy; to investigate predictors of these symptoms and their impact on the child and family. DESIGN: A cross-sectional multi-centre survey. PARTICIPANTS: Eight hundred and eighteen children with cerebral palsy, aged 8-12 years, identified from population-based registers of cerebral palsy in eight European regions and from multiple sources in one further region. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)(P4-16) and the Total Difficulties Score (TDS) dichotomised into normal/borderline (TDS < or = 16) versus abnormal (TDS > 16). STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Multilevel, multivariable logistic regression to relate the presence of psychological symptoms to child and family characteristics. RESULTS: About a quarter of the children had TDS > 16 indicating significant psychological symptoms, most commonly in the domain Peer Problems. Better gross motor function, poorer intellect, more pain, having a disabled or ill sibling and living in a town were independently associated with TDS > 16. The risk of TDS > 16 was odds ratio (OR) = .2 (95% CI: .1 to .3) comparing children with the most and least severe functional limitations; OR = 3.2 (95%CI: 2.1 to 4.8) comparing children with IQ < 70 and others; OR = 2.7 (95% CI: 1.5 to 4.6) comparing children in severe pain and others; OR = 2.7 (95% CI:1.6 to 4.6) comparing children with another disabled sibling or OR = 1.8 (95%CI: 1.2 to 2.8) no siblings and others; OR = 1.8 (95% CI: 1.1 to 2.8) comparing children resident in a town and others. Among parents who reported their child to have psychological problems, 95% said they had lasted over a year, 37% said they distressed their child and 42% said they burdened the family at least 'quite a lot'. CONCLUSIONS: A significant proportion of children with cerebral palsy have psychological symptoms or social impairment sufficiently severe to warrant referral to specialist services. Care must be taken in the assessment and management of children with cerebral palsy to ensure psychological problems are not overlooked and potentially preventable risk factors like pain are treated effectively. The validity of the SDQ for children with severe disability warrants further assessment.
- Published
- 2008
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