Mental disorders and atopic dermatitis in children and adolescents

INTRODUCTION: Some authors point to a relationship between mental disorders (MD) and atopic dermatitis (AD), but few determine which MD these are, and none of them evaluate the impact of AD on their healthy siblings. AIM: To determine which MD affect children and adolescents with AD and compare it with the risk of their healthy siblings. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional, prospective study with the application of a risk assessment instrument for Mental Disorders in paediatric patients with AD and their siblings from September 2016 to June 2018. The evaluation instrument used to assess the risk of MD was the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL). The Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney, Pearson’s χ(2) test with Yates correction and Fisher’s exact test were used, considering a significance level of 5%. RESULTS: The risk of MD in participants with AD was 63.0%, and in the healthy siblings, 36.0% (p < 0.01). The risk was higher in participants with AD when compared to their siblings for the syndromes “Sleep Problems”, “Thought Problems” and “Somatic Complaints”. Parental concerns on socialization/bullying were also more frequent for participants with AD when compared to siblings. CONCLUSIONS: Children and adolescents with AD present a high risk of MD, and their healthy siblings also present impairment in their mental health. In both cases, this impairment is higher than the one expected in the Brazilian general paediatric population (24.6%) and global paediatric population (22.4%).