Authors: Dejan Stevanovic Gordana Susic
Publish Date: 2012/04/07
Volume: 22, Issue: 3, Pages: 607-612
Abstract
Children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis JIA are at an increased risk of developing emotional problems This study evaluated the associations between levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms and healthrelated quality of life HRQOL in these childrenSixtyseven children with JIA together with one parent participated Anxiety symptoms were identified using the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders Questionnaire SCARED while depressive symptoms were identified using the Mood and Feeling Questionnaire MFQ The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory PedsQL was used for HRQOL assessments Using hierarchical multipleregression analysis demographics clinical factors and pain were control variables while anxiety the SCARED score and depressive symptoms the MFQ score were HRQOL the PedsQL score predictorsThe regression model emerged with specified variables explaining 63 of the variance in the PedsQL score F = 1192 p 001 among children Among parents the same set of variables accounted for 49 the variance F = 699 p 001 The MFQ score but not the SCARED added most to the varianceDepressive symptoms but not anxiety accounted for substantial variability in levels of HRQOL when considered with demographics clinical factors and pain Thus screening for depression needs to be considered as a part of multimodal assessment and treatment approaches in JIA
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