Lenore Schwankovsky

Construction and Validation of Four Childhood Asthma Self-Management Scales: Parent Barriers, Child and Parent Self-Efficacy, and Parent Belief in Treatment Efficacy

This study examined the psychometric properties of four new health belief measures for asthmatic children and their parents. A total of 110 asthmatic children (aged 7-15) and 129 parents (with asthmatic children aged 3-15) responded to a mail-out survey. Evidence for reliability (0.75-0.87) and validity was obtained for measures of Parent Barriers to Managing Asthma, Parent Asthma Self-Efficacy (subscales: attack prevention and attack management), Parent Treatment Efficacy, and Child Asthma Self-Efficacy (subscales: attack prevention and attack management). All measures were correlated in the hypothesized directions with health status, asthma symptoms, and impact of illness on the family.

Colonic motility after surgery for Hirschsprung's disease.

OBJECTIVE:Years after surgery for Hirschsprungs disease, many children continue to suffer from fecal incontinence or constipation. The purpose of the present investigation was to define the physiology underlying the persistent symptoms in children after surgery for Hirschsprungs disease, and to determine the outcome of interventions based on the results of the motility testing.METHODS:We studied 46 symptomatic patients (5.5 ± 3.3 yr old, 35 male) >10 months after surgery for Hirschsprungs disease. We performed a colonic manometry with a catheter placed with the tip in the proximal colon. We used a structured questionnaire and phone interview to follow up the patients an average of 34 months after the manometry.RESULTS:We identified four motility patterns: 1) high-amplitude propagating contractions (HAPCs) migrating through the neorectum to the anal sphincter, associated with fecal soiling (n = 18); 2) normal colonic manometry associated with fear of defecation and retentive posturing (n = 9); 3) absence of HAPCs or persistent simultaneous contractions over two or more recording sites (n = 15), associated with constipation (n = 13); and 4) normal colonic motility and a hypertensive internal anal sphincter (>80 mm Hg) (n = 4). We based treatment on results of the motility studies. There was improvement in global health (mean score, 3.9 ± 1.1 vs 2.8 ± 1.3 at the time of initial evaluation, p < 0.001) and emotional health (3.8 ± 1.1 vs 2.6 ± 1.1, p < 0.0001). Improvement in the number of bowel movements occurred in 72% of children. Resolution or decreased abdominal pain was reported in 80%.CONCLUSIONS:Colonic manometry clarifies the pathophysiology and directs treatment in symptomatic children after surgery for Hirschsprungs disease.

Gastrointestinal motility and sensory abnormalities may contribute to food refusal in medically fragile toddlers

Background In chronically ill children who refuse to eat, surgery to correct anatomic problems and behavioral treatments to overcome oral aversion often succeed. A few patients fail with standard treatments. The aims of the study were to: 1) investigate motility and gastric sensory abnormalities and 2) describe treatment that was individualized based on pathophysiology in children who failed surgery and behavioral treatments. Methods We studied 14 patients (age 1.5–6; mean 2.5; M/F: 7/7). All had a lifelong history of food aversion and retching or vomiting persisting after feeding therapy and fundoplication. All were fed through gastrostomy or gastro-jejunostomy tubes. We studied esophageal and antroduodenal manometry, and gastric volume threshold for retching. We identified when gastric antral contractions were associated with retching and pain. A multidisciplinary treatment program included a variable combination of continuous post-pyloric feedings, drugs to decrease visceral pain, drugs for motility disorders, and behavioral, cognitive, and family therapy. We interviewed parents 2–6 months following testing to evaluate symptoms, mode of feeding and emotional health. Results We found a motility disorder alone in 2, decreased threshold for retching alone in 5 and both motility and sensory abnormalities in 7. After treatment, 6 of 14 (43%) began eating orally and 80% had improved emotional health. Retching decreased from 15 episodes per day to an average of 1.4 per day (p <0.01). Conclusions Upper gastrointestinal motor and/or sensory disorders contributed to reduced quality of life for a majority of children and families with persistent feeding problems. A multidisciplinary approach improved symptoms and problems in these children

Visceral pain-associated disability syndrome: a descriptive analysis.

Objective Pain-associated disability syndrome (PADS) is a recently defined term that describes patients with chronic pain whose restriction in daily activities appears disproportionately severe for the observable pathology. The aim of this study is to describe the features of a group of pediatric patients with abdominal symptoms fitting this diagnosis. Methods To identify factors associated with visceral PADS, we reviewed the records of 40 patients (18 males; age range, 7–21 years) with gastrointestinal symptoms severe enough to prevent school attendance or eating for 2 months or more. These patients, in whom pain was neither feigned nor self-induced, met the diagnostic criteria for visceral PADS, including failure of usual treatments and lack of a satisfactory organic explanation for the severity of the pain. Results The dominant symptom was abdominal pain in 30 patients, regurgitation in 5 patients, nausea in 3 patients, and chest pain in 2 patients. All patients complained of pain or discomfort, and all met symptom-based criteria for one or more functional gastrointestinal disorder. Disordered sleep was a problem for 39 patients. Factors associated with PADS included learning disabilities, unrealistic goals in a perfectionist, high-achieving child, early pain experiences, passive or dependent coping style, marital problems in the home, and chronic illness in a parent. All patients had at least two associated factors, and a majority had four or more associated factors. Possible triggering events included an acute febrile illness in 20 patients, school change in 11 patients, trauma in 2 patients, death of a loved one in 2 patients, and sexual abuse in 2 patients. Before diagnosis, all patients underwent extensive negative evaluations. Nearly all patients had mental health evaluations that ruled out eating disorder and psychosis. Medical management had failed, and surgeries worsened symptoms. In a majority of patients, we identified a comorbid psychiatric disorder. Conclusions Evaluation of preteens and teens unable to go to school or eat because of unexplained incapacitating symptoms should include queries about factors associated with PADS. To treat PADS, medical and mental health clinicians must recognize pain as having both nociceptive and affective components and address treatment collaboratively. Invasive procedures and surgery reinforce the cycle of arousal and pain and are to be avoided. Age for the onset of PADS in the preteen and early teen years suggests that developmental issues play a role.

Rapid maturation of gastric relaxation in newborn infants.

We studied gastric volume, wall compliance, sensory perception, and receptive relaxation during the first postnatal 80 h in 17 healthy term infants, using a computer-driven air pump and simultaneously measuring pressure and volume within a latex balloon placed through the oropharynx into the stomach. To evaluate gastric compliance, we measured pressures while we infused air into the intragastric balloon at different rates (10, 20, and 60 mL/min) in random sequence. In all infants, there was a linear relationship between intragastric pressure and volume to the maximum pressure tested, 30 mm Hg. Gastric compliance ranged from 0.2 mL/mm Hg to 3.8 mL/mm Hg. Different infusion rates had no effect on compliance. We calculated gastric receptive relaxation by measuring the volume needed to maintain a constant pressure of 10 mm Hg within the balloon for 5 min. Gastric receptive relaxation ranged from 0.5 mL/min to 54 mL/min. Gastric compliance and receptive relaxation increased with postnatal age (r = 0.70, p < 0.005;r = 0.79, p < 0.001, respectively) and with number of feedings (r = 0.80, r = 0.88, respectively, both p < 0.001). There was no correlation between weight or type of feeding (breast versus formula) and either gastric compliance or relaxation. In conclusion, these results may explain the small feedings that neonates ingest in the first days of life. During the first 3 postnatal d, the newborn stomach becomes more compliant and develops more receptive relaxation, associated with a larger volume capacity.

Water load test in children.

Objective The purpose of this study was to estimate values for the water load test in healthy elementary school children. Methods We measured the volume of water consumed by 176 children (71 boys and 105 girls) using the water load test at school. Children completed a questionnaire, which included self-efficacy and abdominal pain history. Then subjects drank water for 3 minutes or until full. Results Children drank 630 ± 260 ml. Water consumption correlated with age, weight, and height. Children who believed they could drink a lot, drank more than those who thought they could not, P < 0.01. Conclusion The water load test is a simple and inexpensive method to estimate onset of satiety and may be useful in future studies now that there are values for healthy children.