Psychiatric symptomatology and health-related quality of life in children and adolescents with alopecia areata.

BACKGROUND: There is a very limited amount of data available regarding the relationship between alopecia areata (AA) and psychiatric morbidity and quality of life (QoL) in children and adolescents. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine the psychiatric state and health-related quality of life (HRQL) of children and adolescents with AA, as well as their relationships with clinical parameters. METHODS: The sample consisted of 74 children with AA aged 8-18 years. Questionnaires were used to evaluate the psychiatric status and HRQL of the patients. The study and control groups were divided into child and adolescent groups to exclude the effect of puberty on psychological condition. RESULTS: In the child group, patients had higher state anxiety and trait anxiety scores; they also had lower parent-rated psychosocial and total area HRQL scores than the controls did. In addition, the depression score was prone to show a positive relationship with having AA in the children. In the adolescent group, however, only the state anxiety score had a significant association with AA. All of the parent-rated HRQL scores were also prone to being lower compared with controls in this age group. Regarding determinants of HRQL, prolonged disease duration and later disease onset had positive effects, whereas severity of scalp involvement, trait anxiety and depression had negative effects, for the sample as a whole. CONCLUSIONS: Alopecia areata is associated with poor psychiatric status and QoL, especially in childhood. The impact of the disease on QoL occurs through both clinical and psychiatric parameters.

Parental psychological symptoms and familial risk factors of children and adolescents who exhibit school refusal.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the levels of psychological symptoms in the parents of children with school refusal and determine the familial risk factors in its development. METHODS: This study was performed on 55 pairs of parents who had children exhibiting school refusal and were compared with a control group. A socio-demographic data form, the Beck Depression Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Symptom Checklist-90 revised were applied to these parents. RESULTS: Parents of the school refusal group had higher anxiety and depression scores than the controls. Among the risk factors for school refusal, physical punishment by the parents, a history of organic disease in the parents or children, and a history of psychiatric disorders in the parents or other relatives were found to be significant. CONCLUSIONS: Depending on genetic and environmental factors, parents with psychiatric disorders appeared to be associated with development of psychiatric disorders in their children. Moreover, psychiatric disorders in parents negatively affected the treatment of their children and adolescents who exhibited school refusal. It is therefore vital to treat psychiatric disorders of parents with the children having psychiatric disorders, and thus increase parent participation in their children's therapeutic process.