Behavioral Disorders in Children with and without Asthma in children refered to Hazrat Masoomeh Hospital Qom

Asthma is a chronic and common medical illness in childhood. Chronic illnesses can be associated with mood disorders, anxiety, and behavioral disorders, as well as adversely affecting the clinical course of the underlying disease. The purpose of this study was to compare behavioral disorders in children with and without asthma referred to Masoumeh Hospital in Qom.

In this study, 67 asthmatic children as case group and 67 healthy children as control group were enrolled. The demographic and clinical information checklist and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) were completed. Data were analyzed using t-test and chi-square test using SPSS 18 software.

The mean score of CBCL questionnaire in case group with 28.12 2 2.06 was significantly higher than control group with 17.33 9 9.7 (p = 0.01). Mean scores of social isolation subscales (case group: 5.83, control group: 1.18, p = 0.006), anxiety-depression (4.99 vs 2, p = 0.02), intellectual problems (8 Aggressive behaviors (5.5 vs 2.3, p = 0.003) were significantly higher in children with asthma than healthy children.

Behavioral disorders in children with asthma were significantly more than healthy children. The duration of asthma and the severity of asthma, in direct association, can predict behavioral disorders in children with asthma.