Psychopathology of Children Suffering from Bronchial Asthma in India

There was a constant and variable increase in asthma prevalence worldwide in the last two decades, and the same is being observed in India. The reasons are multi-factorial, but a neglected area is the psychological aspects. The aim of the present study was to investigate the psychopathology of children suffering from bronchial asthma. A casecontrol study was conducted at the asthma clinic, Department of Pediatrics, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, 40 children age range 6-14 years with asthma were included in the study group by consecutive sampling and compared to 40 age and sex matched children with no history of chronic illness. Psychopathology of children were evaluated using Hindi version of childhood psychopathology measurement schedule (CPMS). A score of 10 or above indicates the possibility of psychopathology in children. 4/40 (10%) children with asthma had scores above the recommended cut-off score (≥10) on the CPMS and were functioning in the clinically significant maladjustment range while 3/40 (7.5%) of the control subjects had scores above the recommended cut-off score. In addition, children with asthma did not found to have a significant difference on the total score of CPMS than control subjects. There were more emotional problems with physical illness in the asthma group than the control group. The findings of this study enlightened the new facts about asthma.