Aim: Managing patients with complex health complaints is challenging, because cumulative functional impairment may be overlooked when such complaints are considered individually. This Norwegian study examined functional impairment in paediatric patients with complex somatic and mental health complaints.
Methods: Data for this open-label trial were collected from 1 January 2020 to 1 July 2023, before an interdisciplinary intervention for paediatric patients aged 6-16 years with multiple referrals to Haukeland University Hospital.
Introduction: Premature birth is associated with a higher risk of sleep problems and neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDD). We examined relationships between sleep problems and cognitive, motor, and sensory functions in a national cohort of five-year-old children born extremely preterm (EPT) with the purpose of identifying possible means of improving developmental outcomes.
Methods: This study was part of a national cohort study of all children born extremely preterm, defined here as gestational age less than 28 completed weeks, or birth weight below 1,000 g, born in Norway in 1999 and 2000.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry
May 2025
Background: Fifteen million infants annually are born prematurely, placing them at high risk for life-long adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. Whether brain tissue abnormalities that accompany preterm birth persist into young adulthood and are associated with long-term cognitive or psychiatric outcomes is not known.
Methods: From infancy into young adulthood, we followed a population-based sample of consecutively identified preterm infants and their matched term controls.
Background: Physical activity is identified as a key modifiable factor towards good short- and long-term mental health and has shown positive effects on anxiety and depression in children and adolescents. However, physical activity-based interventions are not a part of standard mental health care and evidence on the effect of such interventions is still lacking. A transdiagnostic, physical activity-based intervention was developed as a supplement to routine clinical care for youth in specialized child and adolescent mental health services.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Children and adolescents with complex health complaints are often referred to several different healthcare specialists for assessments and treatment. This may result in fragmented care, higher risks of medical errors, and sub-optimal health outcomes. The aim of this non-controlled open label trial was to evaluate the feasibility of implementing a new interdisciplinary intervention for children and adolescents with multiple referrals and complex health complaints and to gather experiences from participating children, adolescents and parents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Psychiatry
July 2023
Neurometabolic disorders such as tyrosinemia type 1 (TYRSN1) may interfere with brain metabolism and show symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in patients treated with the enzyme inhibitor nitisinone [2-(2-nitro-4-trifluoromethylbenzoyl)-1,3-cyclohexanedione, NTBC]. It has been reported that ADHD treatment improves treatment compliance, which is imperative for the long-term prognosis of patients with TYRSN1. In this study, we report the case of a male patient who was diagnosed with TYRSN1 at 3 months of age and was subsequently treated with NTBC, restricted protein intake, and amino acids supplementation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Qual Stud Health Well-being
December 2023
Purpose: In an inpatient unit for children in mental health care, a variety of services are provided through interprofessional collaborations. Music therapy is a relatively recent proposition in this context, but there is increasing acceptance for music therapy as a therapeutic method. However, there is limited knowledge about music therapy in this field, and this study aims to address this research gap.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is a high prevalence of mental health problems in children with Cerebral Palsy (CP). Still, knowledge regarding the trajectory of mental health problems throughout childhood and differences according to informants is lacking. There is also a need for more knowledge regarding the validity of mental health screening tools.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a known risk factor for substance-related problems (SRP) during adolescence, but the nature of this relationship and the importance of co-occurring conduct problems are not fully understood.
Methods: Data stem from a linked dataset between a large population-based survey conducted in 2012 of Norwegian adolescents aged 16 to 19, and registry-based data from specialized child and adolescent mental health services ( = 9,411).
Results: Adolescents with "ADHD + high conduct problems" had increased risk of SRP (odds ratios = 2.
Front Psychiatry
February 2022
Objective: To review literature regarding existing and recommended roles for nurses in the management of children with ADHD.
Methods: MEDLINE and CINAHL were searched from 2010 to the end of 2019 with the following keywords: ADHD, nurse, child, and inclusion criteria published in an English journal.
Results: Forty-three records were found.
Background: Anxiety and depressive disorders in children and adolescents are highly prevalent and account for more than half of all youth psychiatric disorders. Left untreated, anxiety, and depression lead to numerous detrimental outcomes, including reduced quality of life, psychiatric, and somatic comorbidity and even reduced lifespan. This puts a large strain on child and adolescent mental healthcare services (CAMHS) to provide effective treatments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The perception of a disorder could be of importance both in problem solving behaviors, and in the emotional approach towards a disorder.
Aims: In this paper, we wanted to assess changes in illness perception in children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) over a four-year interval, to compare parental and self-ratings, and to assess illness perceptions according to co-occurring medical and psychiatric disorders.
Methods: Parents in a cohort of children with CP (N = 36), filled in the Illness Perception Questionnaire at age seven and again at age eleven, and self-reports were gathered at age eleven.
We aimed to assess the impact of POLG disease on mental health and quality of life in 15 patients using the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) and Short-Form 36 Health Survey (RAND-36). We found increased scores in all nine subscales of SCL-90-R, particularly phobic anxiety, depression and somatization. Further, patients reported considerably lower scores in all RAND-36 domains.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Risk of psychiatric disorders has been reported for children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP) at different ages, however little is known regarding the long-term trajectories of these disorders.
Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the trajectories of psychiatric disorders in children with CP, and to explore their association to risk factors.
Methods: We assessed a cohort of children with CP at age seven and again at age eleven with a child psychiatric diagnostic instrument, and parents were informants.
Background: Children with combined mental and somatic conditions pose a challenge to specialized health services. These cases are often characterized by multi-referrals, frequent use of health services, poor clinical and cost effectiveness, and a lack of coordination and consistency in the care. Reorganizing the health services offered to these children seems warranted.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Med Insights Pediatr
July 2020
Objective: Aim of the study was to evaluate the patient pathway from referral to assessment and diagnosis of pre-schoolers referred to a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Clinic (CAMHC) in Norway.
Method: Following data were collected retrospectively from medical records over a 2-year study period: data from clinical interviews for diagnostic evaluation, observation findings in kindergartens and the CAMHC, and results from medical examinations. The times taken from referral to first contact with the CAMHC, then to the first evaluation, and finally to diagnosis were assessed.
Objective: Neonatal diabetes has been shown to be associated with high neuropsychiatric morbidity in a genotype-phenotype-dependent manner. However, the specific impact of different mutations on intellectual functioning is still insufficiently characterized. Specifically, only a small number of subjects with developmental delay have been comprehensively assessed, creating a knowledge gap about patients carrying the heaviest burden.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet
March 2020
Hereditary tyrosinemia Type 1 (HT-1) is a rare metabolic disease where the enzyme catalyzing the final step of tyrosine breakdown is defect, leading to accumulation of toxic metabolites. Nitisinone inhibits the degradation of tyrosine and thereby the production of harmful metabolites, however, the concentration of tyrosine also increases. We investigated the relationship between plasma tyrosine concentrations and cognitive functions and how tyrosine levels affected enzyme activities of human tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (TPH2).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To explore whether children born extremely preterm (EPT) with different types of sleep problems had more behavioural and respiratory health problems than EPT children without sleep problems.
Design: Prospective, nationwide, questionnaire-based study. At 11 years of age, parents reported on four current sleep problems: difficulty falling asleep or frequent awakenings, snoring, daytime sleepiness and not recommended sleep duration (<9 hours).
Objective: To investigate development and predictors of mental health problems from five to eleven years of age in children born extremely preterm (EP).
Method: In a national Norwegian cohort of children born before a gestational age of 28 weeks or with a birthweight <1000 g mental health was assessed by parents at five and eleven years of age using The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. A Total Difficulties Score ≥ 90th percentile (TDS90) for a reference group was used as a measure of a mental health problem.
Prematurely born children have been reported to have more sleep problems throughout childhood than children born at term. The aim of this study was to explore if prenatal or neonatal factors can predict sleep problems at age 11 years in children born extremely preterm (EPT). A prospective observational study of all infants who were born EPT in Norway in 1999 and 2000.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrenatal exposure to substances may influence a child's neurodevelopment and impact on subsequent mental health. In a hospital-based population of school-aged children prenatally exposed to opiates and a number of illicit substances (n = 57), we evaluated mental health symptoms associated with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) using the Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham Questionnaire, revision IV (SNAP-IV) and the Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ) and compared the scores to a reference group which comprised children from the population-based Bergen Child Study (n = 171). Prenatally exposed children had significantly higher SNAP-IV scores associated with ADHD symptoms in both areas of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity and also reported a higher ASSQ score related to an increased number of symptoms associated with ASD, compared with the reference group.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrenatal exposure to substances can possibly influence a child's neurodevelopment and may impact on subsequent mental health. We investigated the mental health status of school-aged children referred to a pediatric hospital with a history of prenatal exposure to alcohol or other substances. Mental health was assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and compared with a reference group.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
March 2018
Background: The beneficial effects from exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) have been widely acknowledged. We assessed the effect of exclusive breastfeeding promotion by peer counsellors in Uganda and Burkina Faso, on cognitive abilities, social emotional development, school performance and linear growth among 5-8 years old children.
Methods: Children in the PROMISE EBF trial (2006-2008) were re-enrolled in the follow-up PROMISE Saving Brains (SB) study (2013-2015).
Neurotoxicol Teratol
January 2020
Background: Opioid induced cerebral changes may contribute to neuropsychological difficulties, like attention problems, frequently reported in prenatally opioid-exposed children. Reduced regional brain volumes have been shown after prenatal opioid exposure, but no study to date has explored the possible impact of prenatal opioids on brain activation patterns.
Materials And Methods: A hospital-based sample of prenatally opioid-exposed school-aged children (n = 11) and unexposed controls (n = 12) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a combined working memory-selective attention task.