Psychological consequences of rheumatic diseases in children and adolescents: A first exploratory study

Abstract

The objective of our study was to make a first exploratory study about the psychological status of children and adolescents with rheumatic diseases exploring, also, the significant differences between girls and boys. A total of 123 children (81 girls and 42 boys) with rheumatic diseases, between the ages of 1 and 19 years old were assessed using different measures for evaluating behavioral and emotional problems. The results showed a picture of a mild or moderate degree of psychological problems in the different measures of anxiety, depression, general distress and behavioral problems. Girls, compared to boys, scored higher in most of the measures used, showing more internalizing than externalizing kinds of symptoms. The results suggest the importance of making a more detailed study of these children, comparing them with matched controls and making prospective, longitudinal studies in order to detect psychological problems, and to explore the influence of predictive variables.

Keywords:

• chronic illnesses
• rheumatic diseases
• children
• adolescents

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Grant GV2004-B-219 from The Conselleria de Empresa, Universidad y Ciencia of the Generalidad Valenciana (Valencia, Spain).

Declaration of interest : The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this paper.