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. 2022 Aug 1;75(2):181-185.
doi: 10.1097/MPG.0000000000003497. Epub 2022 Jun 1.

Anxiety and Depression in Pediatric Patients with Celiac Disease: A Large Cross-Sectional Study

Monique Germone  1   2   3 , Tiffany Phu  2 , Camryn Slosky  1 , Zhaoxing Pan  4 , Anna Jones  5 , Marisa Stahl  3   6 , Pooja Mehta  3   6 , Mary Shull  3   6 , Merlin Ariefdjohan  1 , Edwin Liu  3   6
Affiliations

Anxiety and Depression in Pediatric Patients with Celiac Disease: A Large Cross-Sectional Study

Monique Germone et al. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. .

Abstract

Mental health is a growing concern in pediatric celiac disease (CD). This study utilized the Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) to investigate anxiety and depression symptom rates. Participants were children ages 8 to 17 years (M = 11.7, SD = 2.7; N = 175) with biopsy-proven CD (Median = 1.1 years post-diagnosis, IQR = 0-4) categorized into groups based on the child's age, caregiver or child respondent, presence or absence of comorbidities, and gluten-free diet duration. Self-reported RCADS scores showed 39% of children having clinically significant concerns for anxiety or depression ( P < 0.0001) but only 7% of caregiver-proxy RCADS scores indicated significant concerns for the child's anxiety and 14% for the child's depression. Rates of child-reported anxiety and depression symptoms were significantly higher for those without medical comorbidities than those with ( P = 0.04). Therefore, screening for mental health concerns, particularly anxiety and depression, should be routinely performed in pediatric patients with CD.

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Conflict of interest statement

Edwin Liu is on the advisory board for Takeda Pharmaceuticals and I.M. Therapeutics. The remaining authors report no conflicts of interest.

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