Patients with disorders of sex development undergoing surgical treatment: A psychosocial evaluation in adolescence

The surgical outcomes of disorders on sex development (DSD) are comparatively well studied in the literature, whereas studies investigating its impacts on mental health are scarce. In this study, we aimed to evaluate psychiatric diagnoses, sex roles, quality of life, and adolescents who were surgically treated because of DSD as well as parental attitudes in their parents. The study group consisted of 19 patients diagnosed with DSD and the control group consisted of 20 age- and gender-matched healthy peers. The Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia was performed by a child and adolescent psychiatrist to assess the psychiatric diagnoses. To evaluate quality of life (QoL) and sex roles, The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), and the Bem Sex Role Inventory were used, respectively. Mothers completed the PedsQL-Parent Form and the Parental Attitude Research Instrument (PARI). Of 19 children in the patient group, 14 (73.7%) had a past or current history of at least one psychiatric disorder. The most common psychiatric disorder was major depression. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of sex roles. A statistically significant difference was found between the study and control groups in four factor scores of the PARI. While there was no significant difference between the groups in terms of the children's QoL scores, parent-proxy reports of psychosocial health scores and total QoL scores of the study group were significantly lower than the controls. This finding shows that parents perceived the QoL of their children with DSD as worse than their healthy peers, probably due to their concerns for the future. In conclusion, it is important to identify and treat the psychiatric disorders concomitant in patients with DSD. (C) 2021 French Society of Pediatrics. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.