Psychiatric disorders and function in adolescents with d-transposition of the great arteries.

OBJECTIVE: To compare adolescents with d-transposition of the great arteries (d-TGA) with healthy adolescents with respect to prevalence of psychiatric disorders and global psychosocial functioning. STUDY DESIGN: Subjects, consisting of 139 adolescents with d-TGA (16.1 ± 0.5 years) and 61 healthy adolescents (15.3 ± 1.1 years) without known risk factors for brain disorders, underwent a battery of assessments, including semistructured psychiatric interviews; self-report measures of depressive, anxiety, and disruptive behavior symptoms; and brain magnetic resonance imaging. Previous cognitive functioning and parental stress assessments at age 8 as well as parental post-traumatic stress at age 16 years were explored as potential risk factors predictive of overall psychiatric functioning. RESULTS: Compared with healthy adolescents, adolescents with d-TGA had higher lifetime prevalence of structured interview-derived attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (19% vs 7%, P = .03), along with reduced global psychosocial functioning (80.6 ± 11.2 vs 87.2 ± 7.1, P < .001) as well as significant increases in self-reported depressive (P = .01), anxiety (P = .02), and disruptive behavior symptoms (parent P < .001 and adolescent P = .03). Nevertheless, these youth scored in the nonclinical range on all self-report measures. Level of global psychosocial functioning was positively related to cognitive functioning (P < .001) and negatively related to parental stress (P = .008). CONCLUSIONS: Although adolescents with d-TGA demonstrate significant resilience to known neuropsychological and academic deficits, they show increased rates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and reduced psychosocial functioning. Impaired cognitive functioning and parental stress at younger age emerged as significant risk factors for psychiatric impairment.

Psychiatric functioning and quality of life in young patients with cardiac rhythm devices.

BACKGROUND: Less is known about depression, anxiety and quality of life (QoL) in children and adolescents with pacemakers (PMs) and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) than is known in adults with these devices. METHODS: A standardized psychiatric interview diagnosed anxiety/depressive disorders in a cross-sectional study. Self-report measures of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder were obtained. Medical disease severity, family functioning and QoL data were collected. A total of 166 patients were enrolled (52 ICD, 114 PM; median age 15 years). RESULTS: Prevalence of current and lifetime psychiatric disorders was higher in patients with ICDs than PMs (Current: 27% vs. 11%, P = .02; Lifetime: 52% ICD vs. 34% PM, P = .01). Patients with ICDs had more anxiety than a healthy population (25% vs. 7%, P < .01). Patients with ICDs and PMs had similar levels of depression as a healthy population (ICD 10%, PM 4%, reference 4%, P = .29). In multivariate analysis including a medical disease score, demographics, exposure to beta-blockers, activity limitations, hospitalizations, shocks and procedures, the type of device (PM versus ICD) did not predict psychiatric diagnoses when age at implantation and the severity of medical disease were controlled for. Patients with ICDs and PMs had lower physical QoL scores (ICD 45, PM 47.5, Norm 53, P ≤ .03), but similar psychosocial functioning scores (ICD 49, PM 51, Norm 51, P ≥ .16) versus a normal reference population. CONCLUSIONS: Anxiety is highly prevalent in young patients with ICDs, but the higher rates can be attributed to medical disease severity and age at implantation instead of type of device.