Objective: To describe patterns of feeding difficulties and behaviors of Filipino children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Methods: An electronic mealtime survey was administered to caregivers of 3- to 9-year-old children diagnosed with ASD in a Philippine tertiary government hospital. Descriptive statistics and correlation analyses between feeding difficulties measured as Mealtime Survey Score, sociodemographic data, and early feeding history were performed. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to these was analyzed through a binomial test. Results: All of the 115 study subjects reported at least one problematic feeding behavior, with picky eating being the most frequent (61.74%). Significantly, more feeding difficulties were observed among the children with reported early feeding difficulties during their 2nd and 3rd year of life. There were no documented statistically significant changes in feeding behaviors during the past six months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion There is a high prevalence of feeding difficulties and problematic feeding behavior among Filipino children with ASD, however no significant changes to these during the past six months of the COVID-19 pandemic were documented. Present feeding difficulties and behaviors were associated with history of early feeding difficulties, highlighting the need to include feeding difficulties in screening tools, and early training programs and interventions for children with ASD.
Autism Spectrum Disorder: Child ; Feeding Behavior ; COVID-19

INTRODUCTION: The study was performed to determine the psychological problems in children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS) while they were on steroid therapy, as compared to healthy children. METHODS: This prospective cohort study was conducted in a paediatric clinic of a tertiary hospital. Parents of the participants in the INS group and control group (comprising children without chronic illness) completed questionnaires using the Child Behavioural Checklist (CBCL). The CBCL measures a range of age-specific emotional and psychological problems, including internalising and externalising domains. Analyses of the CBCL scores between groups were done using Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS: A total of 140 children were recruited with an equal number in the INS and control groups. There was a significant difference in the mean total CBCL scores between the INS group and the control group, specifically in the withdrawal, somatic, anxious and aggressiveness subdomains. Similar findings were demonstrated in correlation between total psychological problems and corticosteroid dosage. In the INS group, steroid dose and cushingoid features were found to have a significant positive association with internalising psychological problems. CONCLUSION Children with INS on corticosteroid treatment showed an increase in internalising and externalising scores, as compared to healthy children.
Child ; Humans ; Child Behavior Disorders/psychology* ; Nephrotic Syndrome/psychology* ; Problem Behavior/psychology* ; Prospective Studies ; Southeast Asian People ; Glucocorticoids/therapeutic use*

Objective To investigate the status of exclusive breastfeeding and bottle feeding in remote rural areas of Sichuan province and explore the relationship between negative emotions of mothers and feeding patterns of infants.Methods Multistage cluster sampling was employed to select the infants aged 0-6 months and their mothers in remote rural areas of Sichuan province.A self-designed questionnaire was used to collect the demographic characteristics of mothers and infants and the basic family information.The Chinese version of Depression Anxiety Stress scale was used to evaluate mothers' negative emotions,and the Breastfeeding Self-efficacy scale to assess the confidence level of mothers' behavior of adhering to exclusive breastfeeding.Results Totally 723 pairs of infants and their mothers were included.The exclusive breastfeeding and bottle feeding rates were 34.16% (247/723) and 57.54% (416/723),respectively.Mothers with depression tendency were less likely to adopt exclusive breastfeeding (OR=0.532,95%CI=0.291-0.974,P=0.041) and more likely to adopt bottle feeding (OR=1.877,95%CI=1.054-3.344,P=0.033).Further subgroup analysis of breastfeeding self-efficacy showed that in the group of low self-efficacy,the mothers with depression tendency were less likely to adopt exclusive breastfeeding (OR=0.461,95%CI=0.236-0.902,P=0.024) and more likely to adopt bottle feeding (OR=1.968,95%CI=1.047-3.701,P=0.036) than the mothers without depression tendency.In the group of high self-efficacy,mothers' depression,anxiety,and stress tendency had no significant correlation with infant feeding patterns (all P>0.05).Conclusions The mothers in the remote rural areas of Sichuan province are more likely to employ bottle feeding than exclusive breastfeeding.The mothers with stronger depression tendency demonstrate lower possibility of exclusive breastfeeding and higher possibility of bottle feeding.Breastfeeding self-efficacy may affect the association between maternal depression and infant feeding patterns.
Humans ; Infant ; Anxiety ; China ; Feeding Behavior ; Self Efficacy ; East Asian People ; Mothers/psychology* ; Depression/epidemiology*

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical phenotype and genetic characteristics of a child with Intellectual developmental disorder with behavioral abnormalities and craniofacial malformations without epilepsy (IDDBCS). METHODS: A child who had visited the Lianyungang Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital in April 2021 was selected as the study subject. Clinical data of the child were collected. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood samples of the child and his parents and subjected to whole exome sequencing (WES). Candidate variants were verified by Sanger sequencing of his family members. RESULTS: The child, a 3-year-and-4-month-old male, had presented with global developmental delay and cranial malformation. Genetic testing revealed that he has harbored a heterozygous c.1703delA (p.K568Sfs9) variant of the PHF21A gene, for which both of his parents were of the wild type. This low-frequency variant may alter the structure and function of the protein product. Based on the guidelines from the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG), it was classified as a pathogenic variant (PVS1+PS2+PM2_Supporting). CONCLUSION The heterozygous c.1703delA (p.K568Sfs9) variant of the PHF21A gene probably underlay the IDDBCS in this patient.
Child ; Male ; Humans ; Infant ; Developmental Disabilities/genetics* ; Craniofacial Abnormalities/genetics* ; Seizures/genetics* ; Intellectual Disability/genetics* ; Problem Behavior ; Mutation

Since December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been rapidly spreading worldwide and affecting the physical and mental health of the general population. It may have even more serious potential harm to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This paper provides a literature review on the psychological and behavioral problems experienced by children with ASD during the COVID-19 epidemic, as well as the factors influencing these issues. The findings of this review can serve as a basis for clinical research on ASD children.
Humans ; Child ; Problem Behavior ; COVID-19 ; Autism Spectrum Disorder ; Epidemics

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the efficacy and required indicators of Children Neuropsychological and Behavioral Scale-Revision 2016 (CNBS-R2016) in the differential diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and global developmental delay (GDD). METHODS: A total of 277 children with ASD and 415 children with GDD, aged 18-48 months, were enrolled as subjects. CNBS-R2016 was used to assess the developmental levels of six domains, i.e., gross motor, fine motor, adaptive ability, language, social behavior, and warning behavior, and a total of 13 indicators on intelligence age and developmental quotient (DQ) were obtained as the input features. Five commonly used machine learning classifiers were used for training to calculate the classification accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of each classifier. RESULTS: DQ of warning behavior was selected as the first feature in all five classifiers, and the use of this indicator alone had a classification accuracy of 78.90%. When the DQ of warning behavior was used in combination with the intelligence age of warning behavior, gross motor, and language, it had the highest classification accuracy of 86.71%. CONCLUSIONS Machine learning combined with CNBS-R2016 can effectively distinguish children with ASD from those with GDD. The DQ of warning behavior plays an important role in machine learning, and its combination with other features can improve classification accuracy, providing a basis for the efficient and accurate differential diagnosis of ASD and GDD in clinical practice.
Child ; Humans ; Autism Spectrum Disorder/psychology* ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Machine Learning ; Social Behavior

Child ; Child, Preschool ; Humans ; China ; Practice Guidelines as Topic ; Dyssomnias ; Child Behavior

OBJECTIVES: To study the moderating effect of mother-child relationship in the association between maternal parenting stress and emotional and behavioral problems in preschool children, and to provide reference for the prevention and control of emotional and behavioral problems in preschool children. METHODS: Using a stratified cluster sampling method, 2 049 preschool children were surveyed from November to December 2021, who sampled from 12 kindergartens in Wuhu City, Anhui Province. The emotional and behavioral problems of preschool children were assessed with the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the relationship of maternal parenting stress and mother-child relationship with children's emotional and behavioral problems. The PROCESS Macro was used to analyze the moderating effect of conflicted and dependent mother-child relationships in the association between maternal parenting stress and emotional and behavioral problems in these preschool children. RESULTS: Among these preschool children, maternal parenting stress was positively correlated with the scores of emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity, and peer problems subscales and total difficulty scores (P<0.001); intimate mother-child relationships were negatively correlated with the scores of conduct problems, hyperactivity, and peer problems subscales and total difficulty scores (P<0.001); conflicted and dependent mother-child relationships were positively correlated with the scores of emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity, and peer problems subscales and total difficulty scores (P<0.001). After controlling for relevant confounding factors, conflicted mother-child relationship (β=0.05, P=0.001) and dependent mother-child relationship (β=0.04, P=0.012) were found to have a moderating effect on the association between maternal parenting stress and total difficulty scores in these preschool children. CONCLUSIONS Negative mother-child relationships play a moderating role in the association between maternal parenting stress and emotional and behavioral problems in preschool children. Prevention of emotional and behavioral problems in preschool children should focus on reducing maternal parenting stress and improving negative mother-child relationships.
Humans ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Problem Behavior/psychology* ; Parenting/psychology* ; Emotions ; Mother-Child Relations ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Mothers/psychology*

Objective: To investigate the influence of sleep fragmentation in infancy and toddler period on emotional and behavioral problems at the age of 6 years. Methods: Using a prospective cohort design, 262 children were extracted from mother-child birth cohort recruited from May 2012 to July 2013 in Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Children's sleep and physical activities were assessed using actigraphy at 6, 12, 18, 24, and 36 months of age, from which the sleep fragmentation index (FI) at each follow-up point was calculated. Children's emotional and behavioral problems at 6 years of age were assessed using the strengths and difficulties questionnaire. Group-based trajectory model was applied to determine sleep FI in infancy and toddler period trajectory groups with Bayesian information criteria being used to determine the best fitting model. Children's emotional and behavioral problems between groups were examined with independent t test and linear regression models, etc. Results: A total of 177 children, with 91 boys and 86 girls, were included in the final analysis and were divided into 2 groups: high FI group (n=30) and low FI group (n=147). Compared with children in the low FI group, those in the high FI group presents with higher total difficulties score and higher hyperactivity or inattention score ((11.0±4.9) vs. (8.9±4.1), (4.9±2.7) vs. (3.7±2.3) scores, t=2.17, 2.23, both P<0.05, respectively), with the differences remaining significant after adjusting for covariates (t=2.08, 2.09, both P<0.05 respectively). Conclusion: High sleep fragmentation in infancy and toddler period is associated with more emotional and behavioral problems, especially hyperactivity or inattention problems, at 6 years of age.
Male ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Child, Preschool ; Child ; Cohort Studies ; Problem Behavior/psychology* ; Sleep Deprivation ; Prospective Studies ; Bayes Theorem ; China ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVE: To compare the parental acceptance of dental treatment under general anesthesia and deep sedation in children and assess the changes in postoperative oral health-related quality of life and treatment efficacy. METHODS: The parents of 131 children undergoing dental treatment in the Department of Stomatology of Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital from January, 2022 to June, 2022 were surveyed using a questionnaire of children's advanced oral behavior management, and 83 children receiving general anesthesia or deep sedation for dental treatment between January, 2018 and December, 2021 were also investigated for changes in quality of life after the treatment using a questionnaire. The treatment efficacy was assessed at the 1-year follow-up visit in 149 children who received dental treatment under general anesthesia or deep sedation during the same period. RESULTS: The survey of perantal acceptance showed that 62.6% of the parents preferred deep sedation, 29.01% preferred general anesthesia, and 8.4% preferred compulsory treatment. Dental treatments under general anesthesia and deep sedation both significantly improved oral health-related quality of life of the children. While dental surgeries under general anesthesia resulted in the most significant improvement of pain symptoms, deep sedation was associated with both obvious relief of the children's pain symptoms and reduction of the parents' pressure level. No significant difference was found in the efficacy of treatments under general anesthesia and deep sedation at the 1-year follow-up. CONCLUSION Dental treatment in children under deep sedation has the highest parental acceptance, followed by treatment under general anesthesia, and the acceptance of compulsory treatment is the lowest. The treatments under general anesthesia and deep sedation significantly improve the quality of life of the children and their parents and both have good treatment efficacy.
Humans ; Child ; Quality of Life ; Deep Sedation ; Child Behavior ; Treatment Outcome ; Anesthesia, General ; Parents ; Pain ; Dental Care ; Dental Caries