Psychopathological Risk Assessment in Children with Hyperphenylalaninemia.

BACKGROUND: Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a rare congenital disorder caused by decreased metabolism of phenylalanine determining cerebral impairments. If untreated, PKU might lead to intellectual disability, seizures and behavioral disorders. The aim of this study is to provide a characterization of the psychopathological profile of a pediatric population diagnosed with PKU at newborn screening. METHODS: an accurate neuropsychological evaluation of 23 patients (aged 8-18 years) with hyperphenylalaninemia (defined as experimental group, EG) and in 23 age-matched healthy controls (defined as control group, CG) was performed using the Child and Adolescent Behavior Inventory (CABI) and Self-Administrated Psychiatric Scales for Children and Adolescents (SAFA) questionnaires. RESULTS: the CABI test showed significant differences for the sub-scales related to "Irritable mood", "Oppositional-provocative symptoms" and "ADHD" in the EG compared to CG (p = 0.014, p = 0.032, and p = 0.032, respectively). Patients with hyperphenylalaninemia also presented with significant differences both for anxiety disorder scale and depression scale of SAFA test than controls (p = 0.018 and p = 0.009, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: children and adolescents with early diagnosis of PKU showed a psychopathological risk profile characterized by an increased risk of experiencing symptoms such as mood deflection, anxiety, attention deficit, oppositional defiant behavior, and obsessive traits than healthy peers. Our findings highlighted the need of the inclusion of a neuropsychiatric evaluation in the management of these patients to improve their overall quality of life.

Epidemiological pattern of bullying using a multi-assessment approach: Results from the Bullying and Youth Mental Health Naples Study (BYMHNS).

BACKGROUND: Bullying is a widespread phenomenon that has captured attention from mental health researchers. Several studies have assessed bullying prevalence with some methodological concerns. OBJECTIVES: Preliminary, we analyzed the psychometric properties of two bullying scales for victimization (the multidimensional peer victimization scale - MPVS) and for perpetration (the bully subscale of the Illinois bully scale - IBS-B); then, we estimated bullying prevalence; finally, we evaluated the effect of gender and classroom on the phenomenon. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: 2959 students from the metropolitan city of Naples constituted the sample. METHODS: Data collection was obtained using a multi-assessment approach that included both single-item questions and intensity scales in order to compare the two methods. RESULTS: The two scales resulted valid and showed good reliability. The MPVS displayed a 1-factor second order model. The IBS-B had a mono-factorial structure. Both showed full invariance for gender and classroom. Prevalence of victimization was 37% whereas that for perpetration was 21%. As expected we obtained several bullying prevalence results depending on the specificity of questions and in particular repetitiveness of episodes. There was a good correspondence between results of single-item questions and multi-item scales. Finally results demonstrated several differences for gender and classroom attended. CONCLUSION: In this epidemiological study the multi-assessment approach identified different but complementary features of bullying phenomena. The use of the two measurement approaches allowed us to obtain more precise and exhaustive information on bullying prevalence and compare it with previous findings.

Psychological, cognitive and maternal stress assessment in children with primary ciliary dyskinesia.

BACKGROUND: Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a rare disorder due to structure and functional abnormalities of respiratory cilia. There are no reports on the behavioral and psychological aspects of children and adolescents with PCD. This study was undertaken to assess the cognitive and behavioural characteristics, and the parental stress of a population of school-aged children with PCD. METHODS: Ten PCD and 34 healthy school-aged children underwent Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III edition, Child Behavior Check-List questionnaire (CBCL), Parenting Stress Index-Short Form tests in order to perform a behavioural and psychological evaluation. RESULTS: PCD children showed significant behavioral and social competent problems in CBCL scale than control children, in particular with regard to internalizing problems score (P<0.001). Parental distress, parent-child interaction and total stress in the mothers of PCD patients were higher than those in the controls' parents (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Our findings pinpoint the importance of specific psychological support in the clinical management of children with PCD.