Pediatric and Maternal Anxiety at First Visit to a Turkish Gastroenterology Clinic Compared to Anxiety Prior to Pediatric Endoscopy Procedure

Abstract

The aim of this study was the prospective comparison of pediatric and maternal anxiety at the first visit to a gastroenterology clinic with anxiety prior to a pediatric endoscopy procedure. A total of 101 children aged 4-18 years plus their mothers who were referred to an outpatient pediatric gastroenterology clinic were included in the first group. The second group consisted of 101 different children aged 4-18 years undergoing pediatric endoscopy. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was administered to mothers. Visual analog scale scores were obtained from the children to measure anxiety. The demographic characteristics of the groups were similar. The mean HADS anxiety score was 3.83 in mothers of the first group. The same score was significantly higher as (6.96) in the mothers whose children underwent an endoscopy (p < .001). The comparison of the depression scores revealed significantly higher scores in the endoscopy group. Visual analog scale values of the children revealed remarkably higher anxiety scores in the endoscopy group. About 5% of mothers in the first group and almost half of the mothers in the endoscopy group developed remarkable anxiety (>8 HADS anxiety). The rate of significant depression (>8 HADS depression) was 2% and 17.82% in the first and second groups, respectively. The current prospective trial concluded that particularly anxiety is a major concern for mothers and children when endoscopy is required.