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).


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings pinpoint the importance of specific psychological support in the clinical management of children with PCD.
Clinic, Department of Mental and Physical Health, and Preventive Medicine, Second University of Naples, Naples, Italy.
Marco
M
Carotenuto
Maria
M
Esposito
Francesca
F
Di Pasquale
Sara
S
De Stefano
Francesca
F
Santamaria
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D007619:Kartagener Syndrome / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires