Depression and Anxiety in Parents of Children Who Are Candidates for Liver Transplantation.

BACKGROUND The primary stress factor for families in the pre-transplant period is reported as the waiting time for suitable organs, leading to anxiety, despair, and distress. OBJECTIVE We investigated the psychosocial factors, anxiety and depression, in the parents of children who are candidates for liver transplantation. METHODS Thirty-five pediatric liver transplantation candidates and their 38 parents, from February to August 2014, were included. Participants were evaluated using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), and Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI). RESULTS We found that a significant number of parents (n=25, 65.7%) were diagnosed with clinical psychiatric disease: 18.4% (n=7) with depression and 47.3% (n=18) with anxiety disorders. There was a significant difference in the examination scores of parents between genders (P <0.05). There was also a significant difference in CGI and HAM-D scores of parents relative to the history and presence of liver disease (P <0.05). CONCLUSION The rate of these disorders was high in relation to the prevalence of depression and anxiety disorders in the community reported in the literature. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate psychosocial factors of parents of all transplant candidate children as a part of routine care so that the high-risk to family members and to enable early intervention.