Biomaterial Database

Somatic comorbidity in children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders. 2019

Sara Agnafors, and Anna Norman Kjellström, and Jarl Torgerson, and Marie Rusner

Division of Children's and Women's Health, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, 581 83, Linköping, Sweden. sara.agnafors@liu.se.

In the adult population, psychiatric disorders are associated with somatic illness. Explanatory life style factors have been found, but also a failure to recognize somatic illness in this group. Another factor is side effects from long-term use of antipsychotic drugs. Given the psychiatric-somatic comorbidity in the adult population, it is of interest to investigate whether an association exists already during childhood. The aim of the present study was to investigate the frequency of somatic illness in children and adolescents with a psychiatric diagnose. Data were obtained from the regional health care database Vega, Sweden. Psychiatric and somatic diagnoses obtained during 2011-2013 for individuals aged 3-18 years were extracted. Descriptive statistics were used to examine difference in somatic morbidity between children with and without psychiatric diagnoses. Logistic regression was used in age-stratified models to test the association between psychiatric and somatic diagnoses. Anxiety and behavioral disorders were associated with all somatic conditions investigated at nearly all ages. The same applied to substance use, investigated at age 9-18 years. Affective disorders were associated with all somatic conditions at age 12-18 years. Psychotic conditions were associated with asthma, bowel disorders and myalgia in adolescents. Children with psychiatric disorders are at remarkably high risk for concurrent somatic illness. The associations span across many types of conditions and across all ages. The results support the need for awareness of somatic morbidity in child and adolescent psychiatric clinical settings, and the need for coordinated health care for children with comorbid states.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D011618	Psychotic Disorders	Disorders in which there is a loss of ego boundaries or a gross impairment in reality testing with delusions or prominent hallucinations. (From DSM-IV, 1994)	Psychoses,Psychosis, Brief Reactive,Schizoaffective Disorder,Schizophreniform Disorders,Psychosis,Brief Reactive Psychoses,Brief Reactive Psychosis,Disorder, Psychotic,Disorder, Schizoaffective,Disorder, Schizophreniform,Disorders, Psychotic,Disorders, Schizoaffective,Disorders, Schizophreniform,Psychoses, Brief Reactive,Psychotic Disorder,Reactive Psychoses, Brief,Reactive Psychosis, Brief,Schizoaffective Disorders,Schizophreniform Disorder
D002648	Child	A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL.	Children
D002675	Child, Preschool	A child between the ages of 2 and 5.	Children, Preschool,Preschool Child,Preschool Children
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000293	Adolescent	A person 13 to 18 years of age.	Adolescence,Youth,Adolescents,Adolescents, Female,Adolescents, Male,Teenagers,Teens,Adolescent, Female,Adolescent, Male,Female Adolescent,Female Adolescents,Male Adolescent,Male Adolescents,Teen,Teenager,Youths
D001523	Mental Disorders	Psychiatric illness or diseases manifested by breakdowns in the adaptational process expressed primarily as abnormalities of thought, feeling, and behavior producing either distress or impairment of function.	Mental Illness,Psychiatric Diseases,Psychiatric Disorders,Psychiatric Illness,Behavior Disorders,Diagnosis, Psychiatric,Mental Disorders, Severe,Psychiatric Diagnosis,Illness, Mental,Mental Disorder,Mental Disorder, Severe,Mental Illnesses,Psychiatric Disease,Psychiatric Disorder,Psychiatric Illnesses,Severe Mental Disorder,Severe Mental Disorders
D015897	Comorbidity	The presence of co-existing or additional diseases with reference to an initial diagnosis or with reference to the index condition that is the subject of study. Comorbidity may affect the ability of affected individuals to function and also their survival; it may be used as a prognostic indicator for length of hospital stay, cost factors, and outcome or survival.