Psychosocial adjustment, health-related quality of life, and psychosexual development of boys with hypospadias: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE A systematic review of studies on psychosocial adjustment, HRQoL (health-related quality of life), and psychosexual development of boys with hypospadias. METHODS Research was conducted on several online bibliographic databases. Articles were selected on the basis of predefined criteria. Methodological quality was assessed by two independent reviewers who applied a standardized checklist. When possible, data analyses were performed by calculating effect sizes. RESULTS Thirteen studies met the criteria for inclusion, whose methodological standard ranged from low to high quality. None of them has focused on HRQoL. Findings with regard to psychosocial and psychosexual adjustment were inconsistent, though they clearly showed that boys with hypospadias suffer from negative genital appraisal and sexual inhibitions. Overall, medical factors exerted a rather small influence. Psychosocial risk factors have hardly been examined so far. CONCLUSIONS The identification of psychosocial risk factors in methodologically sound studies is necessary to guarantee a comprehensive treatment for boys with hypospadias.