Atopic conditions and mental health problems: a 3-year follow-up study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that atopic conditions at 15/16 years of age affect both internalized and externalized mental health problems 3 years later. Combined school and postal survey was conducted in urban and rural settings. A total of 3,674 adolescents (70.1% response rate) were followed at two time points and interviewed with similar questionnaires at baseline and follow-up. Hopkins Symptoms Checklist (HSCL-10) was used to assess internalized problems, and two subscales (conduct problems and hyperactivity) from the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire to measure externalized mental health problems. The atopic conditions investigated were asthma, hay fever and eczema by asking the adolescents whether these conditions were present or not. There was an increase in the prevalence of internalized mental health problems from about 17-25% and a decrease in externalized mental health problems and number of atopic conditions in the follow-up period. Of the atopic conditions, hay fever was most prevalent with about 34% at 15 years of age and 20% at 18. The asthma prevalence was at 10 and 5% and eczema at 25 and 10%, respectively. Internalized mental health problems among girls were significantly associated with atopic conditions 3 years earlier, also after controlling for confounding variables. To live with atopic conditions seem to affect the mood and level of anxiety among adolescent girls. This should be kept in mind by health professionals treating young girls with atopic conditions.

Children and adolescents’ health-related quality of life in relation to eczema, asthma and hay fever: results from a population-based cross-sectional study

“…Research suggests that additional comorbidity generally adds to the burden of disease [42,61]. Our results lend support to this finding, as number of conditions within an individual was linearly related to decrements in HRQoL.…”

“…Many studies observed associations of eczema, hay fever or asthma with psychiatric conditions [38][39][40][41][42]. This is why mental health needs to be controlled for to see if there are independent associations of the respective condition with HRQoL impairments over and above that caused by mental health impairments.…”

Mental Health in Adolescents with Allergic Diseases-Using Data from the 2014 Korean Youth's Risk Behavior Web-based Study

“…김 재 희 에 부정적 영향을 주게 되므로 (Bennett, Shafran, Coughtrey, 만성신체질환이 있는 청소년들은 Walker, & Heyman, 2015), 질환이 없는 청소년에 비해 정신적 문제를 가질 가능성이 더욱 높다 몇 (Hysing, Elgen, Gillberg, Lie, & Lundervold, 2007). 몇 연구에서 천식이 정신건강과 관련이 있는 것으로 나타났 으며 (Ortega, Huertas, Canino, Ramirez, & Rubio-Stipec, 2002; 아토피 피부염 역 Van Lieshout & Macqueen, 2012), 시 정신건강의 문제를 가져올 수 있음이 확인되고 있다 (Halvorsen et al, 2014;Lien, Green, Thoresen, &…”

Atopic Dermatitis and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

“…These data were not statistically significant. In fact, Lien et al 22 found that patients with AD were more likely to have "internalizing" mental health problems (ie, feeling panicky, anxious, dizzy, sleepless, sad, worthless, hopeless), an association that was statistically significant in all sex and age groups.…”