Behavioral, emotional and social functioning in children born with congenital diaphragmatic hernia

Purpose: The aim was to investigate social competence and behavioral and emotional problems in children and adolescents born with CDH.

Methods: All children born with CDH, treated in Stockholm 1990-2009, were invited to participate. After written consent, the Child Behavior Checklist or Adult Self-Report questionnaires were sent to participants. Of the 145 long-term survivors, 51% returned a completed questionnaire. Both the syndrome and competence scales were used and open-ended questions were analyzed with manifest content analysis.

Results: All parents of children aged 1.5-5 years and 90% of parents of children aged 6-18 years reported a normal range on the syndrome scale. Five parents indicated internalizing, but none externalizing behavior. All young adults achieved a normal score on the syndrome scale. Eighty-five percent had normal school achievement, 79% had normal social scores and 40% had normal activity levels. Significantly fewer boys (23%) were in the normal activity range compared with 67% of girls.

Conclusions: The vast majority of all parents of children born with CDH scored no behavioral or emotional problems, furthermore, they reported normal social and school competence. However, the activity levels seemed to be reduced in children born with CDH.