Posttraumatic stress and health-related quality of life in parents of children with cardiac rhythm devices

PTSD in parents of children with severe diseases: a systematic review to face Covid-19 impact

“…One hypothesis would depend on the time between the traumatic clinical event and the parents' PTSD assessment. Indeed, the study with the higher prevalence rates [35] has the shortest range of time since diagnosis (less than 1 year) and the study with very low rates [37] has a rather long time (almost 7 years) since diagnosis. It is possible that a period of 6.3 years offered sufficient time to recover and to develop resilience [7,43,44].…”

“…Noteworthy, two studies showed quite homogeneous results, with rates of PTSD ranging from 17 to 19.5% among mothers and from 8.1 to 9% among fathers [36,38], whereas the parents of patients who experienced a stroke showed a higher prevalence of PTSD (28% of mothers and 15% of fathers) [35]. Surprisingly, Werner et al [37] reported much lower rates, since only one mother and no fathers had a diagnosis of a PTSD related to the implantation of a cardiac rhythm device in their children.…”

“…Two studies specifically involved younger children, with a mean age of 1.58 years [35] and around one year old [36]. The other two studies involved parents whose children presented the event at a mean age of 4.9 years [37] and children followed by paediatricians at any age (0-18 years) [38].…”

“…Two studies collected data from 6 months to one year after the diagnosis/event of the child's disease [35,36]; whereas one paper reported results collected at a mean time of 6.3 years after the event (Werner) [37], and another one showed data gathered generally a month after the diagnosis of the child's disease, as required for DSM-5 PTSD diagnosis [38].…”

The Physical Health of Caregivers of Children With Life-Limiting Conditions: A Systematic Review

“…14,47,77,78,85 The remaining quantitative studies measured caregiver's health using other questionnaires, activity trackers, or cortisol. Of them, 19 studies 15,[42][43][44][45][46]50,83,[86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96] demonstrated that the physical health of caregivers who care for a child with a LLC or LTI was negatively affected.…”