Competência social e transtornos comportamentais em crianças portadoras de asma moderada e grave

Abstract

Objective Evaluate, social competence and behavior disorders in children with moderate to severe asthma according to parental perception. Casuistics: Sixty-two patients were studied, 36 male and 26 female, ages ranging from 7 to 16 years (MA: 10.94; SD: 2.28), with clinical diagnosis of moderate to severe asthma, without comorbidity, seen at the Pediatric Pneumology Service and the Allergy and Immunology Service at a University Hospital, from March to September, 2000. A control group was simultaneously studied and included 62 patients, 37 male and 25 female, ages ranging from 7 to 16 years (MA: 10.26; SD: 2.37), seen at the Orthopedics and Ophthalmology Outpatient Wards at the same hospital, without symptoms of asthma, respiratory allergy and no chronic diseases. Material and method An Identification Form, a Clinical Data Form and the CBCL (Child Behavior Checklist), a tool to evaluate social competence and behavior disorders, were used. Results Results were evaluated by the proportional tests, Student s t test and ANADEP and ANADEPMU and a significance level of 0.05 was chosen. Patients were classified according to the clinical manifestations of asthma: 42 had moderate asthma and 20 had severe asthma, most of them (93.55%) had been diagnosed since 3 years of age. There was no significant difference in age and gender between the group with asthma and the control group. There was a marked association between overall social competence and asthma (with p=0.000) and between social competence associated to activities (with p=0.001) and school (with p=0.01). There was no difference between children with asthma and the control group for social markers (with p=0.23). There was no correlation between gender and age when evaluating social competence, or overall social competence specific parameters: activities, school and social activities. The evaluation of social competence and type of asthma did not show a correlation. There was a strong association between the presence of behavior disorders and asthma (p=0.005), specially internalizing disorders (p=0.001). There was no association between the externalizing disorders and the disease. Behavior disorders were not associated to gender, age and type of asthma. Conclusions Children with asthma showed alterations in overall social competence and social competence related to activities and school, when compared to the control group. They also showed overall and internalizing disorders, which may be harmful to their development, their quality of life, compliance with the treatment and adequate management of the disease. The integration of biological, psychological and social factors is essential to establish adequate programs for the treatment of children with asthma and their families.