I sottotipi di Disturbo Ossessivo Compulsivo in età evolutiva: adattamento della versione italiana di Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Child Version (OCI-CV) e studio preliminare delle proprietà psicometriche in campioni non-clinici di 8-11 anni.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) subtypes in prepubertal children is an understudied research area. The Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Child Version (OCI-CV) is a recently developed self-report tool, which, differently from other existing measures, assesses OCD subtypes in 8 to17-year-old children and adolescents. However, studies have examined the psychometric properties of the OCICV in mixed groups composed of children and adolescents, but no study has used only child groups, although the clinical features of OCD in children are different compared to those in adolescents. This study investigated factor structure, reliability, concurrent/divergent validity and the incremental and predictive validity of the Italian OCI-CV in a large non-clinical group of 8 to 11-year-old children. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed a three-factor structure without 7 of the original items: Pure Obsessions, Washing/Neutralising, Hoarding/Ordering. Scores on the OCI-CV Washing/ Neutralising were moderately correlated with measures of OCD and panic/agoraphobia characteristics and weakly with other anxious aspects and depression. Scores on OCI-CV Pure Obsessions moderately correlated with measures of depression and anxiety except for physical injury anxiety, whereas scores on OCI-CV moderately correlated only with OCD characteristics. Higher scores on the OCI-CV Washing/Neutralising at T0 (β = 0,10, t = 2,56, p < 0,05) but not scores on the OCI-CV Pure Obsessions and OCI-CV Hoarding/Ordering, predicted higher scores on the SCAS OCD at one-year follow up. Differently from previous studies, the Italian version of the OCI-CV showed adequate psychometric properties with a three-factor instead of six-factor structure, without seven items

Depressive Anxiety Symptoms in Hospitalized Children with Chronic Illness during the First Italian COVID-19 Lockdown

COVID-19 is continuing to spread around the world, having a direct impact on people’s daily lives and health. Although the knowledge of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in the general population is now well established, there is less information on its effect on specific and vulnerable populations, such as children with chronic illness (CI). We conducted a multi-centered cross-sectional study among pediatric patients in six public children’s hospitals in Italy during the first lockdown, with the aim of assessing the proportion of children with CI presenting anxiety and depressive symptoms, and the clinical and demographic characteristics affecting such symptomatology. We included children with at least one chronic condition, with no cognitive delay, aged between 11 and 18 years. Brief standardized questionnaires were administered during medical scheduled visits to screen anxiety and depressive symptoms. We found a very high proportion of children showing mild to severe depressive and anxiety symptomatology (approximately 68% and 63%, respectively). Our results highlight the need of ensuring tailored psychological interventions to protect children with CI from the effect of the pandemic (and related restrictive measures such as quarantine and social distancing), with the final aim of promoting mental health and psychological well-being in this vulnerable population

Venous thromboembolism secondary to hospitalization for COVID-19: patient management and long-term outcomes

Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a complication of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients. Little information is available on long-term outcomes of VTE in this population.Objectives: We aimed to compare the characteristics, management strategies, and long-term clinical outcomes between patients with COVID-19-associated VTE and patients with VTE provoked by hospitalization for other acute medical illnesses.Methods: This is an observational cohort study, with a prospective cohort of 278 patients with COVID-19-associated VTE enrolled between 2020 and 2021 and a comparison cohort of 300 patients without COVID-19 enrolled in the ongoing START2-Register between 2018 and 2020. Exclusion criteria included age <18 years, other indications to anticoagulant treatment, active cancer, recent (<3 months) major surgery, trauma, pregnancy, and participation in interventional studies. All patients were followed up for a minimum of 12 months after treatment discontinuation. Primary end point was the occurrence of venous and arterial thrombotic events.Results: Patients with VTE secondary to COVID-19 had more frequent pulmonary embolism without deep vein thrombosis than controls (83.1% vs 46.2%, P <.001), lower prevalence of chronic inflammatory disease (1.4% and 16.3%, P <.001), and history of VTE (5.0% and 19.0%, P <.001). The median duration of anticoagulant treatment (194 and 225 days, P = 0.9) and the proportion of patients who discontinued anticoagulation (78.0% and 75.0%, P = 0.4) were similar between the 2 groups. Thrombotic event rates after discontinuation were 1.5 and 2.6 per 100 patient-years, respectively (P = 0.4). Conclusion: The risk of recurrent thrombotic events in patients with COVID-19- associated VTE is low and similar to the risk observed in patients with VTE secondary to hospitalization for other medical diseases