Quitmann Julia Hannah, Bullinger Monika, Sommer Rachel, Rohenkohl Anja Christine, Bernardino Da Silva Neuza Maria
University Hamburg-Eppendorf, Department of Medical Psychology, Hamburg, Germany.
University of Coimbra, Cognitive and Behavioral Center for Research and Intervention, Coimbra, Portugal.
PLoS One. 2016 Apr 20;11(4):e0153953. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0153953. eCollection 2016.
Short stature has been associated with psychosocial impairments, but whether treatments and achieved height impact on health-related quality of life (HrQoL) and psychological functioning of children/adolescents is still controversial. This study aimed to examine the effects of height deviation and treatment status on psychosocial adaptation outcomes and to identify clinical and psychosocial determinants of internalizing/externalizing problems in a large cohort of short statured children/adolescents from seven European countries. Participants were 345 children aged 8-18 years with a clinical diagnosis of short stature and 421 parents of 4-18 year-old patients. Children and parents reported on psychological problems (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), generic (KIDSCREEN) and condition-specific HrQoL (QoLISSY). According to analyses of covariance, children/adolescents with current short stature presented more parent-reported internalizing problems and lower self- and parent-reported condition-specific HrQoL, compared to patients with an achieved height above -2SD. Treated children self-reported better HrQoL than the untreated group. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that, rather than height-related clinical variables, children's sex, younger age and poorer HrQoL were the best predictors of psychological problems, explaining 39% of the variance in patient- and 42% in parent-reported internalizing problems, and 22% of the variance in patient- and 24% in parent-reported externalizing problems. Treatment status also moderated the negative links between patient-reported HrQoL and internalizing problems, explaining 2% of additional variance. These results suggest that children with current short stature are at greater risk for internalizing problems. Routine assessment of HrQoL in pediatric healthcare may help identify children for referral to specialized psychological assessment and intervention.
身材矮小与心理社会障碍有关,但治疗方法和所达到的身高是否会影响儿童/青少年与健康相关的生活质量(HrQoL)和心理功能仍存在争议。本研究旨在探讨身高偏差和治疗状况对心理社会适应结果的影响,并确定来自七个欧洲国家的一大群身材矮小儿童/青少年内化/外化问题的临床和心理社会决定因素。参与者为345名年龄在8至18岁之间临床诊断为身材矮小的儿童以及421名4至18岁患者的父母。儿童和父母报告了心理问题(长处和困难问卷)、一般(儿童生活质量量表)和特定疾病的HrQoL(儿童矮小症生活质量量表)。根据协方差分析,与身高高于 -2标准差的患者相比,目前身材矮小的儿童/青少年存在更多父母报告的内化问题,且自我和父母报告的特定疾病HrQoL较低。接受治疗的儿童自我报告的HrQoL优于未治疗组。分层回归分析表明,儿童的性别、年龄较小和较差的HrQoL而非与身高相关的临床变量是心理问题的最佳预测因素,解释了患者报告的内化问题中39%的方差、父母报告的内化问题中42%的方差、患者报告的外化问题中22%的方差以及父母报告的外化问题中24%的方差。治疗状况也调节了患者报告的HrQoL与内化问题之间的负相关关系,解释了额外2%的方差。这些结果表明,目前身材矮小的儿童内化问题风险更大。儿科医疗保健中对HrQoL的常规评估可能有助于识别需要转介进行专门心理评估和干预的儿童。