Psychological aspects and hospitalization for pain crises in youth with sickle-cell disease

Abstract

Sickle-cell disease is a genetic disorder characterized by severe pain episodes or “vaso-occlusive crises” that may require hospitalization. This study examined the associations among emotion regulation, somatization, positive and negative affect, and hospitalizations for pain crises in youth with sickle-cell disease. Multivariate analyses indicated that emotional suppression and somatization were significantly associated with more frequent hospitalizations for pain crises in the previous year after controlling for sickle-cell disease type and pain. These results suggest that efforts to reduce emotional suppression and somatization may assist in decreasing the frequency of hospitalizations for pain crises among youth with sickle-cell disease.

A systematic review of the association between depression and health care utilization in children and adults with sickle cell disease

“…Daily stress and negative mood have been associated with increased self‐report health care use in both adolescents and adults (Porter et al , ; Gil et al , , ). In a group of children and adolescents, emotional suppression and somatization were associated with parent‐reported number of hospitalizations over the preceding 12 months, even after controlling for SCD type and pain (Tsao et al , ). In paediatrics, some evidence even suggests that poorer psychological adjustment of the caregivers can lead to increased health care utilization among children with SCD (Brown et al , ; Schlenz et al , ).…”

AAPT Diagnostic Criteria for Chronic Sickle Cell Disease Pain

“…History of mental health diagnoses, somatization, and emotional factors are associated with higher admission rates for vaso-occlusive pain in individuals with SCD. 54,74 In addition, poorer family functioning has been related to increased health care utilization in children with SCD. 6 Similarly, in adults with patterns of frequent hospital utilization for pain management there was a 3-fold higher prevalence of psychiatric illness in family members.…”

Measuring Positive and Negative Affect in a School-Based Sample: A Polish Version of the PANAS-C

“…At the same time, the PANAS-C has drawn attention from other investigators not directly interested in the tripartite model. For example, the scale has been used in studies of yoga and mood (Felver et al 2015), psychological mindedness and coping (Roxas and Glenwick 2014), sleep deprivation (Dagys et al 2012), and physical illness (Sinnamon et al 2013;Tsao et al 2014). Additionally, Ebesutani et al (2012) have recently developed a shorter, 10-item version of the PANAS-C.…”