Emotional Disorders in Pediatric Renal Transplant Recipients: A Comparative Study

Kidney transplantation is recognized as the optimal therapy for children with ESRD. We performed this study to compare the children’s behavioral problems and their parents’ function in pediatric patients with Kidney transplantation in Arak Amir Kabir Hospital. To perform this case-control study, we recruited 29 children with renal transplantation and compared them with 29 healthy children aged 5-14 years old. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL4/18) was used for the assessment of the children’s behavioral problems and Global Assessment of functioning (GAF) was employed for the evaluation of their parents’ behaviors. Among 29 patients with RTR, anxiety/depression, somatic complaints, social problems, and attention problem were demonstrated in 65.5%, 55.1%, 51.7%, and 76%, respectively. We found a significant difference between cases and controls. Delinquent and aggressive behavior was not seen in two groups. As a significant difference, the parents’ mean stress and behavior score in case and control groups was 22.4% and 63.1%, respectively. The higher prevalence of behavioral problems in the renal transplant recipients and their parent’s functional impairment highlights the importance of early parental intervention for early prevention of future behavioral problems in their siblings.