JOURNAL OF PEDIATRIC SURGERY, cilt.59, sa.6, ss.1163-1169, 2024 (SCI-Expanded)
Background: To assess the effect of age at hypospadias surgery on emotional and behavioural problems, somatic symptoms, irritability, and penile perception. Methods: We retrospectively identi fied the patients who underwent single distal hypospadias surgery and age -matched healthy controls were included. There were two further subgroups according to the age at the time of hypospadias repair ( <2 vs. >2 years). The Strengths and Dif ficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS), Affective Reactivity Index (ARI), Level 2 Somatic Symptom Scale, and Penile Perception Score (PPS) scale were used. The groups were compared using multivariate variance analysis (MANOVA). Results: Both groups consisted of 70 patients (mean age 14.0 +/- 0.2 years, for both), while there were 34 patients in the hypospadias groups who underwent surgery at <2 years of age. Depressive, panic, separation anxiety, social phobia, and somatic complaint symptom scores of the hypospadias group were lower than those of the control group. Obsessive -compulsive symptom levels were signi ficantly higher in patients who underwent hypospadias surgery at >2 vs. <2 years of age. Additionally, PPSs rated by the surgeon were signi ficantly higher in the former. A multivariate linear regression model indicated that panic disorder symptom scores predicted child PPS in the hypospadias group. Limitations include retrospective design. Conclusions: Single hypospadias surgery seems not to have a negative impact on emotional and behavioural status. Children who underwent distal hypospadias surgery after 2 years of age had higher levels of obsessive -compulsive symptoms. Following emotional status may help the early diagnosis of future psychopathologies. Type of Study: Retrospective comparative study. Level of Evidence: III. (c) 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.