Asthma children more likely to suffer from anxiety & depression: Study

A new study published in the journal Pediatrics has revealed that children with asthma are more likely to be suffering from anxiety and depression. Moreover, children with all three conditions are sought Emergency Room care twice more than the patients with only respiratory condition. Researches included nearly 65,000 asthmatic patients, of both children and youth and ages ranging from six to 12. It is found out that 7.7% of them with depression and anxiety had a rate of 28 ER visits in 100 child years while controlling age, gender, insurance type, and other chronic illness. This was two times the rate of patients visiting the Emergency care with just the respiratory condition which is 19 visits per 100 child years. 

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'Asthma is complex'

According to the first author of the research, Naomi Bardach self-management in asthma is complex. Bardach who is also an MD, MAS, of the University of California, San Francisco, Department of Pediatrics and the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies further said that asthma requires recognition of symptoms, adherence to medication in order to avoid triggers. However, the symptoms of anxiety and depression might make it more challenging to follow with treatment which further leads to more visits to the Emergency Room. 

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The research study

Among the asthma patients, 11.2% of children had anxiety issues, while 5.8% of them had depression. On the contrary, among the children without the condition, 7.1% had anxiety and 3.2% had depression. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the children were in the age group from 3 to 17. The study was completed with 65,342 participants who have had doctor visits related to asthma or hospitalizations, or previous use of preventive medications. According to Michael Cabana, who is currently with the Children's Hospital at Montefiore, some other children with asthma, depression, and anxiety, it might be difficult to differentiate between the symptoms of all the conditions. This is also the reason that they have a higher number of hospital visits as compared to the patients of only asthma.

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(With ANI inputs)