Phenylketonuric patients represent their disease
-
Kostas Iakovou
and
Kleopatra Schulpis
Abstract
Background
Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a metabolic disorder resulting in high phenylalanine (Phe) blood concentrations due to the deficiency of the hepatic enzyme Phe hydroxylase. High Phe levels are currently treated with diet, thus avoiding mental retardation, psychomotor delay, etc. The aim of this study was to find out the self-presentation of the disease by the patients.
Methods
A total number of 110 patients self-represented their disease: food allergy (Phe allergy) n = 34/110 (30.9%), health problems n = 31/110 (28.2%), severe health problems n = 26/110 (23.6%), very severe health problems n = 19/110 (17.3%). The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC III) psychometric test was utilized for the evaluation of IQ scores of each participant. A special questionnaire was used focusing on quality of life (QL), social discrimination (SD) and anxiety or depression (AD).
Results
IQ scores were found to be higher in food allergy self-represented patients than those of the other tested groups. The lowest IQ scores were observed in those who represented very severe disease. QL, SD and AD were not observed in the food allergy groups. On the contrary, those who self-presented as very severe diseased patients felt high a disturbance of QL, SD and AD.
Conclusions
The food allergy group seemed to be a very clever excuse for adhering to PKU treatment resulting in high IQ scores and absence of the mentioned upsets. In contrast, in the other groups of patients’ IQ scores were found to be lower than that of food allergy group. Damage of QL, SD, AD were also apparent.
Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
Research funding: None declared.
Employment or leadership: None declared.
Honorarium: None declared.
Competing interests: The funding organization(s) played no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the report for publication.
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©2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Hypo- and hyperthyroidism in early life – new developments
- Letters to the Editor
- Optic nerve sheath diameter appraisal in children affected by diabetic ketoacidosis
- Optic nerve sheath diameter ultrasound measurement to evaluate cerebral edema in children with diabetic ketoacidosis
- Original Articles
- Novel ABCD1 gene mutations in Iranian pedigrees with X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy
- Phenylketonuric patients represent their disease
- Mapping of IDUA gene variants in Pakistani patients with mucopolysaccharidosis type 1
- Genetic testing of two Pakistani patients affected with rare autosomal recessive Fanconi-Bickel syndrome and identification of a novel SLC2A2 splice site variant
- Sex differences in infant body composition emerge in the first 5 months of life
- Characterization of the duration of treatment with diazoxide in infants with prolonged hyperinsulinism (PHI)
- Clinical, biochemical and gender characteristics of 97 prepubertal children with premature adrenarche
- The adjustment of 17-hydroxyprogesterone cut-off values for congenital adrenal hyperplasia neonatal screening by GSP according to gestational age and age at sampling
- The role of vitamin D replacement therapy in serum FGF23 concentration in children with myelomeningocele compared with healthy children – a preliminary study
- Genetic analyses in a cohort of Portuguese pediatric patients with congenital hypothyroidism
- Congenital hypothyroidism in preterm infants: a 3- to 8-year longitudinal study in southern Thailand
- Case Reports
- A case of PHACE syndrome with growth hormone deficiency and abnormal thyroid functions
- A novel DCAF17 homozygous mutation in a girl with Woodhouse-Sakati syndrome and review of the current literature
- Acquired von Willebrand’s syndrome caused by primary hypothyroidism in a 5-year-old girl
- Double variants in TSHR and DUOX2 in a patient with hypothyroidism: case report
