Internalizing and Externalizing Problems and Psychiatric Comorbidities in Children With Hereditary Spherocytosis

This study evaluated internalizing and externalizing problems, as well as psychiatric comorbidities, in children with hereditary spherocytosis (HS). The study cohort comprised children followed at the Department of Pediatric Hematology at Gaziantep City Hospital (n=27). Psychiatric diagnoses were assessed using a semi-structured interview, and parents completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to evaluate internalizing and externalizing symptoms in their children. Based on the semi-structured interview, 29.6% of patients (n=8) met diagnostic criteria for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), followed by enuresis (22.2%, n=6). Compared with the control group, children with HS demonstrated higher parent-reported SDQ scores for both internalizing ( P =0.042) and externalizing problems ( P =0.017). Among the SDQ subdomains, children with HS had significantly higher hyperactivity/inattention scores than controls ( P =0.004). No significant between-group differences were identified in other domains, including emotional symptoms, conduct problems, and peer relationship problems. These findings suggest that children with HS may experience a greater burden of internalizing and externalizing difficulties than their healthy peers and may also be at increased risk of psychiatric comorbidities, particularly ADHD. Larger multicenter studies are warranted to confirm and extend these findings.