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

Marco Carotenuto, Maria Esposito, Francesca Di Pasquale, Sara De Stefano, Francesca Santamaria

Naples, Italy

Author Affiliations: Unit of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Clinic, Department of Mental and Physical Health, and Preventive Medicine, Second University of Naples (Carotenuto M, Esposito M, Di Pasquale F); Department of Pediatrics, Federico II University, Naples, Italy (De Stefano S, Santamaria F)

Corresponding Author: Maria Esposito, MD, Clinic of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, Second University of Naples, Via Sergio Pansini 5 PAD, 11, 80131 Naples, Italy (Tel: 0039-81-5666988; Fax: 0039-

81-5666694; Email: maria.esposito2@unina2.it)

doi: 10.1007/s12519-013-0441-1

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.

Key words: intelligent quotients; parental stress; primary ciliary dyskinesia; Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III edition

World J Pediatr 2013;9(4):312-317