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Psychosocial developmental milestones in men with classic galactosemia
Author(s) -
Gubbels Cynthia Sophia,
MauriceStam Heleen,
Berry Gerard Thomas,
Bosch Annet Maria,
Waisbren Susan,
RubioGozalbo Maria Estela,
Grootenhuis Martha Alexandra
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of inherited metabolic disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.462
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1573-2665
pISSN - 0141-8955
DOI - 10.1007/s10545-011-9290-z
Subject(s) - galactosemia , psychosocial , psychology , pediatrics , psychosexual development , developmental psychology , population , aptitude , clinical psychology , medicine , psychiatry , biochemistry , chemistry , environmental health , galactose
Patients with classic galactosemia suffer from several long term effects of their disease. Research in a group of mainly female patients has shown that these patients may also have a developmental delay with regard to their social aptitude. To study if male galactosemia patients achieve psychosocial developmental milestones more slowly than male peers from the general Dutch population, we assessed their development with the Course of Life Questionnaire (CoLQ). A total of 18 male galactosemia patients participated in this study (response rate 69%): 11 Dutch patients and seven American patients. We found severe delays in the social and psychosexual scales of this questionnaire, but not on the autonomy axis. These results are comparable to an earlier study with a limited number of male patients. The observed delays could be secondary to less developed social skills, cognitive dysfunction, or disrupted language development. We strongly recommend screening of galactosemia patients for developmental delays, to ensure early intervention through social skills training.