Evaluation of depressive and anxiety symptoms in childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus: Frequency, course, and associated risk factors.

BACKGROUND: Depressive and anxiety symptoms are common in childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (cSLE), yet their etiology and course remain unclear. We investigated the frequency of depressive and anxiety symptoms longitudinally in youth with cSLE, and associated socio-demographic and disease factors. METHODS: Participants 8-18 years with cSLE completed baseline measures [demographic questionnaire, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC), Screen for Childhood Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED), and psychiatric interview] and follow-up measures (CES-DC and SCARED) > 6 months later. Prevalence of clinically significant depressive (score >15 on CES-DC) or anxiety symptoms (score ≥25 on SCARED) was calculated at baseline and follow-up. Baseline psychiatric interview diagnoses were tabulated. Relationships between socio-demographics (neighborhood-level material deprivation, ethnic concentration, adverse childhood event history, psychiatric condition in a first-degree relative), disease-related factors (disease duration, major organ disease, disease activity, glucocorticoid use, comorbid medical condition) and baseline depressive and anxiety scores, were examined in linear regression models. Factors with univariate associations with p < 0.2 were included in multivariable adjusted models. RESULTS: At baseline, of 51 participants with a mean disease duration of 4.3 years (SD 2.7), 35% (n = 18) and 35% (n = 18) had clinically significant depressive and anxiety symptoms, respectively. Anxiety disorder was diagnosed by psychiatric interview in 14% (n = 7), depressive disorders in 6% (n = 3), and post-traumatic stress disorder in 4% (n = 2). Adverse childhood events and first-degree relative with psychiatric condition were present in 40% (n = 20) and 37% (n = 18), respectively. In multivariable regression analysis, baseline depressive symptoms were positively correlated with neighbourhood-level material deprivation (ß = 4.2, 95% CI [1.0, 7.3], p = 0.01) and psychiatric condition in a first-degree relative (ß = 7.3, 95% CI [2.2, 12.4], p = 0.006). No associations were found between baseline anxiety scores and patient factors. At a median follow-up of 13.5 months (IQR 10.5, 18) for CES-DC (n = 34) and SCARED (n = 44), depressive and anxiety symptoms were persistent (18%, n = 6; 16%, n = 7), and newly present (24%, n = 8; 16% n = 7) at follow-up. CONCLUSION: In this sample, depressive and anxiety symptoms were prevalent and persistent. Depressive symptoms correlated with neighborhood-level material deprivation, and family psychiatric history. These findings support routine psychosocial assessment in cSLE, and provision of appropriate resources.

An ecological approach to understanding and addressing health inequities of systemic lupus erythematosus.

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a complex chronic autoimmune disease disproportionally afflicting women and, in particular, American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, and Hispanic women. These groups of women have significantly worse SLE-related health outcomes which are partially attributable to their exposure to marginalizing and interconnecting social issues like racism, sexism, economic inequality, and more. Although these groups of women have higher rates of SLE and though it is well known that they are at risk of exposure to marginalizing social phenomena, relatively little SLE literature explicitly links and addresses the relationship between marginalizing social issues and poor SLE-health outcomes among these women. Therefore, we developed a community-engaged partnership with two childhood-SLE diagnosed women of color to identify their perspectives on which systemic issues impacted on their SLE health-related outcomes. Afterward, we used Cochrane guidelines to conduct a rapid review associated with these identified issues and original SLE research. Then, we adapted an ecological model to illustrate the connection between systems issues and SLE health outcomes. Finally, we provided recommendations for ways to research and clinically mitigate SLE health inequities.

Mental Health in Pediatric Rheumatology: An Opportunity to Improve Outcomes.

Mental health problems are more common in children with pediatric rheumatologic diseases (PRDs) than healthy peers. Mental health problems affect disease-related outcomes and health-related quality of life (HRQOL), so addressing these problems can improve clinical and psychosocial outcomes. Mental health screening tools are available, and there are resources available to aid in integrating mental health care into the clinical setting. By implementing these tools, mental health problems can be recognized and addressed.

Evaluation of self-report screening measures in the detection of depressive and anxiety disorders among children and adolescents with systemic lupus erythematosus.

BACKGROUND: There are no validated screening measures for depressive or anxiety disorders in childhood Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (cSLE). We investigated cross-sectionally (1) the prevalence of depressive and anxiety disorder in cSLE. (2) the validity of the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) and the Screen for Childhood Anxiety and Related Disorders (SCARED) measures in identifyingthese disorders. METHODS: Participants 8-18 years with cSLE/incipient cSLE completed CES-DC, SCARED, and Quality OfMy Life (QOML) measures. Parents completed the SCARED-Parent measure. Diagnosis was by gold-standard psychiatric interview and determined prevalence of psychiatric disorder. Receiver Operating Characteristics Area under the Curve (ROCAUC) evaluated screening measure diagnostic performance. RESULTS: Ofseventy-two parent-child dyads, 56 interviews were completed. Mean screen scores were: CES-DC = 15 (range 1-49, SD 12), SCARED-C = 22 (range 2-61, SD 14), SCARED-P = 13 (range 0-36, SD 8). Depressive disorder screen positivity (CES-DC ≥ 15) was 35% (vs. prevalence 5%). Anxiety disorder screen positivity (SCARED ≥ 25) was 39% (vs. prevalence 16%). CES-DC ROCAUC = 0.98 and SCARED-C ROCAUC = 0.7 (cut-points 38 and 32 respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Diagnostic thresholds for depressive and anxiety disorderscreening measures are high for both CES-DC and SCARED-C in cSLE. Brief focused interview should follow to determine whether psychiatric evaluation is warranted.

Verbal associative memory outcomes in pediatric surgical temporal lobe epilepsy: Exploring the impact of mesial structures.

OBJECTIVE: We examined verbal associative memory outcomes in children with left- or right-sided temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) who received combined lateral and mesial resections versus lateral resections sparing mesial structures. We hypothesized that children who underwent left-sided resections including mesial structures would show the greatest verbal associative memory declines following surgery. METHOD: We retrospectively analyzed neuropsychology assessment results from a sample of 65 children with TLE who completed pre- and postoperative evaluation at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. We examined verbal associative memory score changes between groups by laterality (left versus right) and resection type (lateral only versus lateral and mesial resection). We also explored potential associations between certain epilepsy-related characteristics and verbal associative memory changes. RESULTS: Postoperative decline was found in children with left-sided resections, but not those with right-sided resections. In children who received left-sided resections, there was some suggestion of verbal associative memory decline in those who had both lateral and mesial tissues excised, but not in those with lateral resections only. Notably, there was also a language dominance (typical versus atypical) by resection type interaction. Specifically, for the typical language group, children with left lateral plus mesial resections (but not mesial sparing resections) showed postoperative verbal associative memory declines, whereas the opposite was true for the atypical language group. SIGNIFICANCE: These data contribute to our growing understanding of verbal memory outcomes following TLE in childhood, with consideration of the extent of resection to mesial structures. Our findings also highlight the importance of language laterality when interpreting neuropsychological assessment findings and making predictions regarding risk of functional loss following surgery.

Re-examining the crowding hypothesis in pediatric epilepsy.

OBJECTIVE: In adults with left-sided epilepsy, reorganized language may "crowd out" right-hemisphere visual-spatial skills, with relative sparing of language (i.e., the crowding hypothesis). However, this effect has not consistently been demonstrated in pediatric epilepsy studies. The objective of this study was to investigate the crowding hypothesis using a heterogeneous sample of children with intractable epilepsy and typical (left) language dominance or atypical (right or bilateral) language dominance. We examined the relative contributions of seizure onset (before or after age 5), handedness (right versus left), seizure localization (temporal versus extratemporal), as well as language dominance on verbal versus visual cognitive skills. METHOD: We retrospectively analyzed neuropsychology assessment results from a sample of 91 children who completed presurgical evaluation at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada (34 with typical language, 57 with atypical language, mean age = 12 years). We considered a selection of verbal skills (naming, vocabulary knowledge, verbal abstract reasoning) and visual skills (visual-motor integration, block construction, visual abstract reasoning). RESULTS: Consistent with several previous adult studies supporting the crowding hypothesis, univariate analyses showed that the typical and atypical language groups were comparable on the measures of vocabulary knowledge and abstract verbal reasoning whereas the atypical language group produced lower scores across visual measures. Multivariate analyses (taking into account language dominance and associated factors) showed that language dominance was the strongest predictor of performance on two of three visual measures whereas language dominance was not a significant predictor of performance on most verbal measures. Unexpectedly, both sets of analyses indicated that the atypical language group had poorer naming abilities than the typical language group. SIGNIFICANCE: Our data provide some evidence of right-hemisphere functional crowding effects in a heterogeneous sample of children with intractable left-sided epilepsy. Specifically, those with atypical versus typical language dominance showed poorer visual-motor integration and visual-motor problem-solving skills, with comparable scores on certain verbal measures. It is critical that potential crowding effects be considered when interpreting the neuropsychological profiles of children being evaluated for epilepsy surgery.

Academic Outcomes in Individuals With Childhood-Onset Epilepsy: Mediating Effects of Working Memory.

OBJECTIVES: Academic difficulties are common in children with epilepsy, although little is known about the effect of various seizure-related and cognitive variables. Given that persistent seizures may negatively impact academics, and that working memory is predictive of academic abilities, we examined the effects of recent seizures and working memory on word reading, spelling, and arithmetic in pediatric epilepsy. We hypothesized that persistent seizures would be associated with lower working memory ability, which would in turn result in poorer academic performance. METHODS: Our sample consisted of 91 children with epilepsy being treated at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, who underwent neuropsychological testing between 2002 and 2009 to help determine surgical candidacy. Four to 11 years later, follow-up testing was conducted on both surgical (n=61) and non-surgical (n=30) patients. Seizure status was defined by the presence or absence of seizures within the preceding 12 months. RESULTS: 5000 bias-corrected bootstrap resamples with replacement were used to calculate the 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the indirect effect of seizure status on academics through working memory, controlling for baseline academic functioning. Persistent seizures were associated with reduced working memory, which was in turn associated with lower reading (B=-4.64, 95% CI [-10.21, -1.30]), spelling (B=-7.09, 95% CI [-13.97, -2.56], and arithmetic scores (B=-8.04, 95% CI [-13.66, -3.58] at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: For children with intractable epilepsy, working memory deficits present a significant barrier to the development of academic skills. Working memory interventions may be a helpful adjunct to academic remediation in this population to facilitate academic progress. (JINS, 2017, 23, 594-604).

Semantic Neighborhood Effects for Abstract versus Concrete Words.

Studies show that semantic effects may be task-specific, and thus, that semantic representations are flexible and dynamic. Such findings are critical to the development of a comprehensive theory of semantic processing in visual word recognition, which should arguably account for how semantic effects may vary by task. It has been suggested that semantic effects are more directly examined using tasks that explicitly require meaning processing relative to those for which meaning processing is not necessary (e.g., lexical decision task). The purpose of the present study was to chart the processing of concrete versus abstract words in the context of a global co-occurrence variable, semantic neighborhood density (SND), by comparing word recognition response times (RTs) across four tasks varying in explicit semantic demands: standard lexical decision task (with non-pronounceable non-words), go/no-go lexical decision task (with pronounceable non-words), progressive demasking task, and sentence relatedness task. The same experimental stimulus set was used across experiments and consisted of 44 concrete and 44 abstract words, with half of these being low SND, and half being high SND. In this way, concreteness and SND were manipulated in a factorial design using a number of visual word recognition tasks. A consistent RT pattern emerged across tasks, in which SND effects were found for abstract (but not necessarily concrete) words. Ultimately, these findings highlight the importance of studying interactive effects in word recognition, and suggest that linguistic associative information is particularly important for abstract words.