Mazzone Luigi, Postorino Valentina, De Peppo Lavinia, Della Corte Claudia, Lofino Giuseppe, Vassena Lia, Fatta Laura, Armando Marco, Bedogni Giorgio, Vicari Stefano, Nobili Valerio
Department of Neuroscience, Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, IRCCS Children's Hospital Bambino Gesù, Rome, Italy.
Hepat Mon. 2013 Mar 12;13(3):e7871. doi: 10.5812/hepatmon.7871. Print 2013 Mar.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the causes of fatty liver in adults and is currently the primary form of chronic liver disease in children and adolescents. However, the psychological outcome (i.e. the behavioural problems that can in turn be related to psychiatric conditions, like anxiety and mood disorders, or lower quality of life) in children and adolescents suffering of NAFLD has not been extensively explored in the literature.
The present study aims at evaluating the emotional and behavioural profile in children suffering from NAFLD and the quality of life in their mothers.
A total of 57 children (18 females/39 males) with NAFLD were compared to 39 age-matched control children (25 females/14 males). All participants were submitted to the following psychological tools to assess behavior, mood, and anxiety: the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC), the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), and the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). Moreover, the mothers of 40 NAFLD and 39 control children completed the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire.
NAFLD children scored significantly higher as compared to control children in MASC (P = 0.001) and CDI total (P < 0.001) scales. The CBCL also revealed significantly higher scores for NAFLD children in total problems (P = 0.046), internalizing symptoms (P = 0.000) and somatic complaints (P < 0.001). The WHOQOL-BREF revealed significantly lower scores for the mothers of NAFLD children in the overall perception of the quality of life (P < 0.001), and in the "relationships" domain (P = 0.023).
Increased emotional and behavioural problems were detected in children with NAFLD as compared to healthy control children, together with an overall decrease in their mothers' quality of life. These results support the idea that these patients may benefit from a psychological intervention, ideally involving both children and parents, whose quality of life is likely negatively affected by this disease.
非酒精性脂肪性肝病（NAFLD）是成人脂肪肝的病因之一，目前是儿童和青少年慢性肝病的主要形式。然而，NAFLD患儿和青少年的心理结局（即可能与精神疾病如焦虑和情绪障碍相关的行为问题，或较低的生活质量）在文献中尚未得到广泛探讨。
本研究旨在评估NAFLD患儿的情绪和行为特征以及其母亲的生活质量。
将57例患有NAFLD的儿童（18例女性/39例男性）与39例年龄匹配的对照儿童（25例女性/14例男性）进行比较。所有参与者均接受以下心理测评工具以评估行为、情绪和焦虑：儿童多维焦虑量表（MASC）、儿童行为量表（CBCL）和儿童抑郁量表（CDI）。此外，40例NAFLD患儿和39例对照儿童的母亲完成了世界卫生组织生活质量简表（WHOQOL-BREF）问卷。
与对照儿童相比，NAFLD患儿在MASC量表（P = 0.001）和CDI总分（P < 0.001）上得分显著更高。CBCL还显示，NAFLD患儿在总问题（P = 0.046）、内化症状（P = 0.000）和躯体主诉（P < 0.001）方面得分显著更高。WHOQOL-BREF显示，NAFLD患儿母亲在生活质量的总体感知方面（P < 0.001）以及在“人际关系”领域（P = 0.023）得分显著更低。
与健康对照儿童相比，NAFLD患儿的情绪和行为问题增加，同时其母亲的生活质量总体下降。这些结果支持这样一种观点，即这些患者可能受益于心理干预，理想情况下包括儿童和父母，因为他们的生活质量可能受到这种疾病的负面影响。
