title: Psychosocial developmental milestones in men with classic galactosemia.
abstract: Patients with classic galactosemia suffer from several long term effects of their disease. Research in a group of mainly female patients has shown that these patients may also have a developmental delay with regard to their social aptitude. To study if male galactosemia patients achieve psychosocial developmental milestones more slowly than male peers from the general Dutch population, we assessed their development with the Course of Life Questionnaire (CoLQ). A total of 18 male galactosemia patients participated in this study (response rate 69%): 11 Dutch patients and seven American patients. We found severe delays in the social and psychosexual scales of this questionnaire, but not on the autonomy axis. These results are comparable to an earlier study with a limited number of male patients. The observed delays could be secondary to less developed social skills, cognitive dysfunction, or disrupted language development. We strongly recommend screening of galactosemia patients for developmental delays, to ensure early intervention through social skills training.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands. c.gubbels@mumc.nl
authors.forename: Cynthia Sophia
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Gubbels
authors.forename: Heleen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Maurice-Stam
authors.forename: Gerard Thomas
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Berry
authors.forename: Annet Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bosch
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Waisbren
authors.forename: Maria Estela
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Rubio-Gozalbo
authors.forename: Martha Alexandra
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Grootenhuis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005693:Galactosemias / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D012016:Reference Values; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires