Background

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has a significant impact on children, adolescents, and their families. So, the purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence of children’s psychological problems during the COVID-19 pandemic and their association of COVID-19 infection in children and their risk factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 148 children aged 6–12 years old categorized into 2 groups based on COVID-19 infection history. Participants were assessed by the Socioeconomic Scale and the Checklist for Children’s Behavior (CBCL).

Results

Children who had COVID-19 had a high percentage of problems regarding family, school, social, financial, and parent problems due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Regarding CBCL, children who had COVID-19 infection had a higher percentage of clinical rating than the other group regarding withdrawal (11.1% vs. 8.9%), anxious/depressed (33.3% vs. 25%), somatic (11.1% vs. 10.7%), internalizing (61.1% vs. 48.2%), externalizing (38.9% vs. 35.7%), and total problems (50% vs. 44.6%). Family history of psychiatric disorder and the presence of three or more offspring were at high risk for internalizing problems, while those with school problems during pandemic were more vulnerable for internalizing and total problems.

Conclusion

Children with COVID-19 infection had a higher risk of developing psychological problems, such as withdrawal, anxiety/depression, somatic, internalizing, externalizing, and total problems.

Background

Most autism spectrum disorder (ASD) interventions evaluated child outcomes and ignoring the role of parent and family factors on both the immediate- and long-term effects of therapy. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between stigma, parent mental health problems, and quality of life and burden in families of children with ASD in Egypt and its risk factors. Seventy parents of ASD children were recruited from two child intervention centers. Participants were divided into two groups based on burden scale: caregivers of moderate burden (n = 27) and caregivers of severe burden (n = 43). All parents were evaluated for demographic data, zarit Burden Interview, socioeconomic scale, symptom checklist–90 (SCL90), Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue Community Stigma Scale (EMIC-CSS), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life–BREF (WHOQOL-BREF).

Results

Half of the parents reported significant stigma, particularly caregivers with a severe burden. Caregivers with severe burden had more depression and about twice the frequency of sensitivity and somatization problems, lower QoL (20%) as compared with caregivers with moderate burden. Parents with ASD had many associate factors such as work, male autistic children and their caregiver, age of children and parents, the severity of the condition, and disease duration with burden, stigma, QoL, and mental health problems.

Conclusions

This study linked the interrelationships between increased burden and stigma, impaired quality of life, and parental mental health problems; the presence of one of these variables was found to increase the risk of other variables.

Background

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had a tremendous effect on individual’s lives worldwide. The pandemic’s significant socioecological impact is one of the many burdens children confront in the current crises. As a result, this study was designed to determine the psychological impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on preschoolers, particularly the consequences of COVID-19 infection. This study involved 138 children aged 2–5.11 years old who were classified into two groups based on their COVID-19 infection history, which was documented via a PCR test. All participants were assessed by the Socioeconomic Scale and The Children’s Behavior Checklist (CBCL).

Results

COVID-19 infection was found in 21.7% of the children who participated in this study. Furthermore, children with COVID-19 had a higher percentage of clinical rating on the CBCL Profile of DSM-5 scales for affective problems (13.3 vs. 7.4%), anxiety problems (13.3 vs. 9.3%), pervasive developmental problems (20 vs. 13%), and oppositional defiant problems (6.7 vs. 5.6%) than children without COVID-19. Anxiety and somatic problems had a positive correlation with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives of children.

Conclusions

Children infected with COVID-19 were more likely to have psychological issues, such as affective disorders, anxiety problems, pervasive developmental problems, and oppositional defiant problems. These psychological issues had a relationship with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives of children.

Background

School bullying is described as violence to other people. It is perpetrated at schools or other activities when the power of a student or a group of students is used to injure others or other groups.

Main body

The prevalence of school bullying is varied from one country to another. There are many types of bullying, such as physical, verbal, social relations, psychological, sexual, and cyber-bullying. Many risk factors could affect school bullying, especially individual, peer and parent factors. Researches found that adults who had school bullying are more vulnerable to develop future psychiatric disorders.

Conclusions

School bullying is one of the crucial problems among pupils. The wide range of the prevalence of school bullying may be due to different methodologies and the presence of many risk factors. It is recommended to have long-term researches about the student with bullying behavior. Also, prevention programs are required to increase knowledge and early detection of affected students to prevent future psychiatric disorders.

Background

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurological disorder. ADHD has been linked to epilepsy.

Main body

ADHD was found to be present in 30–40% of epileptic children. Researchers have developed numerous theories to explain how and why ADHD and epilepsy coexist. Whether ADHD and epilepsy symptoms are caused by co-occurring psychiatric disorders or by the temporary effects of epileptic discharges or by antiepileptic medicines is critical to consider. Diagnosis and treatment of individuals with ADHD and epilepsy are complicated and challenging from the clinical base.

Conclusions

Comorbidity between ADHD and epilepsy is still challenging to understand. The two diseases have a bidirectional link, so the association may not be coincidental. A disputable point is whether co-occurring ADHD and epilepsy symptoms represent a comorbid psychiatric disorder or are the epileptic discharges’ temporary effects, and are they related to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). It is recommended to follow up with children with epilepsy or ADHD as they may develop comorbidity after a while.

Background

School bullying is the most widespread form of violence among adolescents. It has been identified as a critical problem for students and has evolved into a public health issue and global crisis. The study aims to assess the prevalence of school bullying among primary school students and its relationship with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and conduct disorders. Among the 280 primary school students those aged 10–12 years were recruited. All participants were assessed by parent interview, the Arabic version of the bullying behavior scale for children and adolescents and the Arabic version of the Conners’ Teacher Rating Scale-28.

Results

We found that the prevalence rate of bullying behavior was 12.5% among students. In bullying students’ group, males were higher percentage (15.8%) than females (9%). Also, they had the highest mean scores regarding verbal bullying and social bullying, followed by psychological and physical bullying. Regarding Conners’, the higher mean scores of conduct problem, passive-inattentive, and hyperactivity index were associated with bullying students in compared to students without bullying.

Conclusions

The prevalence of school bullying among primary school students was 12.5%. Also, there was significant association between bullying students and having attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and/or conduct disorder.

Purpose The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and risk factors of post-laser in situ keratomileusis (post-LASIK) ectasia in an Egyptian population sample.
Design This is a retrospective case–control study.
Patients and methods The study included 44 patients, who were classified into two groups. The first group (post-LASIK ectasia) included 31 eyes (18 patients) and the second group (LASIK without complications) included 52 eyes (26 patients). The comparison between the two groups included the pre-LASIK refractive error, corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), corneal curvature, corneal thickness, corneal elevations, ectasia risk scoring, flap thickness, and residual stroma after LASIK. We also evaluated the changes that occurred in patients with ectasia in comparison to their pre-LASIK parameters.
Results The prevalence of post-LASIK ectasia was 0.22%. The degree of myopia, astigmatism, maximum keratometry reading (K-max), ectasia risk scoring, and flap lift for retreatment were significantly higher in the ectasia group compared with the control group (P=0.041, 0.006, 0.016, 0.038, and 0.017, respectively), while the CDVA and residual stroma after LASIK were significantly less in the ectasia group (P=0.039 and 0.003, respectively). There was a statistically significant increase in astigmatism and change in its type and increased K-max and corneal elevations after ectasia.
Conclusions The degree of myopia, astigmatism, CDVA, K-max, ectasia risk scoring, residual stroma after LASIK, and retreatment are risk factors for ectasia development.

Keywords: corneal ectasia, laser in situ keratomileusis complications, laser in situ keratomileusis, post-laser in situ keratomileusis ectasia