Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire Assessment of Long-Term Psychological Outcome in Children After Intensive Care Admission*

Abstract

Objectives: We investigated the long-term psychologic symptoms of patients who survived pediatric intensive care admission. Design: Longitudinal follow-up study. Setting: Nationwide cohort study based on a national ICU register and a questionnaire survey. Patients: All pediatric patients (0–16 yr old) who were admitted to an ICU in Finland in 2009–2010. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Six years after ICU admission, all surviving patients were sent the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, and questionnaires regarding chronic diseases and need for medication and therapy. At the end of the follow-up period, there were 3,674 surviving children who had been admitted to an ICU in 2009–2010. Of these children, 1,105 completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire 6 years after admission. Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire scores were abnormal for 84 children (7.6%), borderline for 80 (7.2%), and normal for 941 (85.2%). Participants with abnormal scores were younger at admission to the ICU (3.06 vs 4.70 yr; p = 0.02), and more commonly had a chronic disease (79.5% vs 47.4%; p < 0.001), a need for continuous medication (49.4% vs 31.7%; p < 0.001), a need for therapy (58.5% vs 15.9%; p < 0.001), and a need for annual healthcare visits (91.4% vs 85.2%; p = 0.05). Abnormal Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire scores were associated with higher rates of neurologic (32.1% vs 10.2%), gastrointestinal (7.1% vs 3.9%), psychiatric (3.6% vs 0.5%), and chromosomal disorders (9.5% vs 1.3%), as well as with long-term pain (1.2% vs 0.6%). Conclusions: Participants with abnormal Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire scores (poor psychologic outcome) at 6 years after childhood ICU admission more commonly suffered neurologic, chromosomal, or psychiatric diagnoses or long-term pain, and generally required higher levels of healthcare services, therapies, and medication.

Assessment of Long-term Psychological Outcomes After Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Admission

“…Our search strategy identified 9193 records. Of those, 205 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility, and 43 articles consisting of 31 independent studies involving 7786 children admitted to the PICU were included in the systematic review (Figure 1). Of the 31 independent studies, 5 were RCTs, 13 were prospective cohort studies, 10 were retrospective cohort studies, 1 was a case-control study, and 2 were cross-sectional studies .…”

The Influence of Entrepreneurs’ Psychological Capital on Their Deviant Innovation Behavior

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Teacher Versus Parent Informant Measurement Invariance of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

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