Background: Parental stress in pediatric chronic illness is well known; however, there is a dearth of literature describing parental stress in pediatric chronic kidney disease (CKD). This pilot study evaluated parenting stress in mild to moderate pediatric CKD relative to caregivers of healthy, typically developing children.
Methods: The study included 38 children, ages 6 to 12 years, and their parents (CKD Group = 10, Typical Group = 28).
To evaluate, in a cohort of children born extremely preterm, the hypothesis that increasing severity of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is associated with less optimal vision, neurodevelopmental outcomes, and parent-reported quality of life.The Extremely Low Gestational Age Newborn study is a multicenter, longitudinal cohort study. Study participants were born before 28 completed weeks of gestation during the years 2002 to 2004 and were enrolled at birth at 14 U.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealth Care Transit
July 2025
Purpose: To explore caregiver-child discrepancy in healthcare transition (HCT) readiness and its association with demographic variables, anxiety, and health services utilization in children and adolescents with chronic health conditions.
Methods: This cross-sectional study surveyed 214 caregiver-child dyads recruited from a therapeutic camp in the Southeastern United States. Children and adolescents aged 7-17 years and their caregivers completed the STAR Questionnaire to assess HCT readiness.
Environ Health Perspect
June 2025
Background: The relationship between prenatal exposure to low-level air pollution and child autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is unclear.
Objective: To examine associations of prenatal air pollution exposure with autism.
Methods: We analyzed data from 8,035 mother-child pairs from 44 United States cohorts in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Cohort.
J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol
September 2025
Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD; aka eczema), affecting 10-20% of the paediatric population, has been linked to neuropsychological conditions and cognitive functioning, prompting this study to explore executive functions (EF) as a potential mechanism due to its role in high-level thinking, decision making, and behavioural control.
Objectives: To examine how early childhood AD impacts middle-childhood EF.
Methods: Our longitudinal study involved 11,373 children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a United Kingdom birth cohort for whom parent-reported AD activity and severity were measured at ≥2 time points between 6 months and 81 months of age.
Background/objectives: This study examined the development of speech, expressive vocabulary, and receptive vocabulary in boys with Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), with a focus on the contribution of the Fragile X Messenger Ribonucleoprotein (FMRP), while controlling for the effects of nonverbal IQ, maternal education, and Autism status on the development of these skills.
Methods: Participants included 45 boys with full mutation FXS, ranging in age from 2.9 to 14.
Background: The gut-kidney axis is implicated in chronic kidney disease (CKD) morbidity. We describe how a panel of gut microbiome-derived toxins relates to kidney function and neurocognitive outcomes in children with CKD, consisting of indoleacetate, 3-indoxylsulfate, p-cresol glucuronide, p-cresol sulfate, and phenylacetylglutamine.
Methods: The Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD) cohort is a North American multicenter prospective cohort that enrolled children aged 6 months to 16 years with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) 30-89 ml/min/1.
Front Child Adolesc Psychiatry
September 2024
Objectives: The prevalence of many psychiatric symptoms, including anxiety and depression, is higher in individuals born extremely preterm (EP) than in term-born individuals during childhood and adolescence. In this prospective study of adolescents born EP, we examined associations between early-life risk factors (prenatal maternal health conditions, socioeconomic and social factors) and anxiety and depression at 15 years of age.
Methods: We included 682 participants (53.
Hypertension
December 2024
Turner syndrome, caused by complete or partial loss of an X-chromosome, is often accompanied by specific cognitive challenges. Magnetic resonance imaging studies of adults and children with Turner syndrome suggest these deficits reflect differences in anatomical and functional connectivity. However, no imaging studies have explored connectivity in infants with Turner syndrome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: ZIKV has neuroinvasive properties, and in utero exposure can cause birth defects, but little is known about the neurological and neurocognitive impacts of acquired ZIKV infection, particularly in children.
Methods: We assessed neurological symptoms frequency among ZIKV-infected children within one year after ZIKV infection. Three to 5 years post-infection, these children and a matched group of uninfected children were assessed via questionnaires, neurological exams, and neuropsychological testing to evaluate the association between prior ZIKV infection and subsequent neurological symptoms, and cognitive-behavioral function.
Key Points: Psychotropic medication use is prevalent in the pediatric CKD population. Central nervous system stimulant usage was more common in male patients, and antidepressant usage was more frequently reported at follow-up visits during teenage years.
Background: Mental health disorders within the pediatric CKD population are prevalent.
Clin J Am Soc Nephrol
July 2024
Key Points: Longitudinal untargeted metabolomics. Children with CKD have a circulating metabolome that changes over time.
Background: Understanding plasma metabolome patterns in relation to changing kidney function in pediatric CKD is important for continued research for identifying novel biomarkers, characterizing biochemical pathophysiology, and developing targeted interventions.
Objective: To identify perinatal factors in children born extremely preterm (EP) that were associated with motor impairment (MI) at 2 and 10 years of age and develop a predictive algorithm to estimate the risk of MI during childhood.
Study Design: Participants of the Extremely Low Gestational Age Newborns Study (ELGANS) were classified as: no MI, MI only at 2 years, MI only at 10 years, and MI at both 2 and 10 years, based on a standardized neurological examination at 2 and the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) at 10 years of age. Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) regression was used to develop the final predictive model.
J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol
June 2024
Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) may affect cognitive function, but studies are limited and inconsistent. The effect of AD severity on cognition remains underexplored and few previous studies have examined clinically validated or repeated measures of cognition throughout childhood.
Objectives: To evaluate the relationship of AD activity and severity with validated measures of general cognition in a longitudinal birth cohort.
For children and young adults, living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) poses physical, mental, and social challenges. The mental health functioning of children and adolescents with CKD plays an important role in the medical, educational, vocational, and quality of life outcomes, yet receives little systematic attention in the busy pediatric nephrology clinic. This article will provide an overview of the prevalence of mental illness and symptoms in children and young adults with CKD, strategies to assess for dysfunction, and the long-term outcomes associated with impaired functioning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin J Am Soc Nephrol
January 2024
Kidney360
October 2023
Key Points: This study evaluates educational and employment outcomes in patients with pediatric kidney disease and assesses predictors of educational attainment and employment in young adulthood. Despite high rates of high school graduation, nearly 20% of patients with CKD are unemployed or receiving disability at long-term follow-up.
Background: Pediatric patients with CKD are at risk for neurocognitive deficits and academic underachievement.
J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry
December 2023
Objective: This cohort study assessed perinatal factors known to be related to maternal and neonatal inflammation and hypothesized that several would be associated with emotional, cognitive, and behavioral dysregulation in youth.
Method: The Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) is a research consortium of 69 pediatric longitudinal cohorts. A subset of 18 cohorts that had both Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) data on children (6-18 years) and information on perinatal exposures including maternal prenatal infections was used.
Although genomic research offering next-generation sequencing (NGS) has increased the diagnoses of rare/ultra-rare disorders, populations experiencing health disparities infrequently participate in these studies. The factors underlying non-participation would most reliably be ascertained from individuals who have had the opportunity to participate, but decline. We thus enrolled parents of children and adult probands with undiagnosed disorders who had declined genomic research offering NGS with return of results with undiagnosed disorders (Decliners, n = 21) and compared their data to those who participated (Participants, n = 31).
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