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Supporting Children with Chronic Illness and Their Families

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A special issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 February 2025 | Viewed by 3063

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Ankie Tan Cheung

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

School of Nursing, The Nethersole School of Nursing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Interests: child and adolescent health; digital health interventions; survivorship care; symptom management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Globally, children with chronic illnesses are experiencing improved survival due to medical advances. This implies that the number of children surviving to adulthood has escalated substantially over time. Yet, children living with and surviving chronic illnesses require frequent medical care and complex chronic care throughout their disease trajectories. This poses detrimental effects not only on the physical and psychological well-being of both children and their families, but also impairs family functioning.

Considering the above, we are organizing a Special Issue entitled “Supporting Children with Chronic Illness and Their Families” in the Journal of Children. This Special Issue will provide insights into cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research that contributes to knowledge in this field. We aim to solicit empirical research manuscripts, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method research, and randomized controlled trials related to providing support in order to impove the well-being of children with chronic illness and their families.

Dr. Ankie Tan Cheung
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

chronic illness
children
families
support
health
wellbeing
caregivers

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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9 pages, 676 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Persisting Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Children with SARS-CoV-2: Temporal Evolution over 18 Months and Possible Role of Lactoferrin

by Francesco Mariani, Saveena Rainaldi, Giulia Dall’Ara, Cristina De Rose, Rosa Morello and Danilo Buonsenso

Children 2024, 11(1), 105; https://doi.org/10.3390/children11010105 - 15 Jan 2024

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Abstract

Background and aim: Persisting gastrointestinal symptoms are reported to be relatively common in children with long COVID; however, their detailed characterization and long-term outcomes have not yet been described. Methods: We performed a retrospective study aiming to investigate the temporal evolution of gastrointestinal symptoms in children with SARS-CoV-2, from acute infection to 18-months follow-up. To further investigate possible therapeutic strategies, we evaluated the role of lactoferrin in improving gastrointestinal symptoms in these children, compared with those not treated. Results: A total of 1224 patients (47.7% females) were included. Of these participants, 246 (19.8%) were vaccinated and 143 (11.5%) presented with comorbidities. A total of 175 patients (14.1%) presented gastrointestinal symptoms during acute infection, 54 (4.4%) at three months, 23 (1.9%) at six months, 6 (3.3%) at twelve months, and 2 (2.3%) at eighteen months follow-up. At six months follow-up, children who were treated with 3 months oral lactoferrin had less persisting symptoms compared to those who did not receive lactoferrin, although this difference was not statistically significant (three patients (25%) in the lactoferrin group vs. fourteen patients (33.3%) not treated, p = 0.73), probably due to the low number of patients with persisting GI symptoms. Conclusions: GI symptoms are relatively common during acute SARS-CoV-2 infection in children, and a non-negligible proportion of these children reported persisting symptoms for up to 12–18 months after the acute infection. In addition, we found a trend even if statistically nonsignificant toward faster improvement of persisting gastrointestinal symptoms in children with long COVID treated with lactoferrin. Despite the limitations relating to the present study’s design, given the significant burden of gastrointestinal symptoms in children with long COVID, our findings provide the basis to perform a prospective, placebo-controlled study. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Supporting Children with Chronic Illness and Their Families)

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Review

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15 pages, 449 KiB

Open AccessReview

The Sleep Patterns of Children and Adolescents with Chronic Conditions and Their Families: An Integrative Literature Review

by Welker da Silva Xavier, Madalena Paulos Abreu, Michelle Darezzo Rodrigues Nunes, Fernanda Machado Silva-Rodrigues, Liliane Faria da Silva, Barbara Bertolossi Marta de Araújo, Paula Saud De Bortoli, Rhyquelle Rhibna Neris and Lucila Castanheira Nascimento

Children 2024, 11(2), 207; https://doi.org/10.3390/children11020207 - 6 Feb 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 960

Abstract

Sleep is of vital necessity for health, and it has a restorative and protective function for children and adolescents with chronic conditions and their families. The purpose of this study was to identify the scientific production on sleep patterns in children and adolescents with chronic conditions and their families. This integrative review was conducted between March and June 2022 using the databases of MEDLINE, Web of Science, CINAHL and PsycINFO. The articles included were original papers published between January 2007 and mid-2022. Excluded were review studies that did not evaluate sleep and whose participants did not have chronic conditions or were not children, adolescents and/or their families. The searches returned 814 abstracts. After exclusions, 47 studies were selected to be read in full; of these, 29 were selected and were grouped empirically into four categories: major alterations in the sleep patterns of children and adolescents with chronic conditions; the relationship between sleep disorders and symptoms in children and adolescents with chronic conditions; the impaired sleep patterns of families of children and adolescents with chronic conditions; and sleep alterations and their relationship with other problems in families of children and adolescents with chronic conditions. All studies showed sleep pattern impairment in children and adolescents with chronic conditions as well as their families. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Supporting Children with Chronic Illness and Their Families)

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9 pages, 389 KiB

Open AccessReview

The Psychological Impact on Parents of Children who Receive an Inconclusive Diagnosis for Cystic Fibrosis following Newborn Screening: A Systematic Mini-Review

by Ioanna Loukou, Maria Moustaki and Konstantinos Douros

Children 2024, 11(1), 93; https://doi.org/10.3390/children11010093 - 12 Jan 2024

Viewed by 772

Abstract

Newborn screening (NBS) has been available for the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis (CF) over the last decades. Through the implementation of NBS, a new designation emerged, that of CF related metabolic syndrome (CRMS) or cystic fibrosis screen positive inconclusive diagnosis (CFSPID). As there is uncertainty regarding the clinical progression of these infants to CF, some studies have investigated the psychological impact of CRMS/CFSPID on their parents. This systematic narrative review aimed to describe the findings of the relevant studies. The number of studies is limited and the study samples are relatively small. It seems that there is a negative impact of CRMS/CFSPID on parental mental health. While some studies indicated similar levels of parental anxiety among those with infants diagnosed with CF and those with CRMS/CFSPID, not all studies reached the same conclusion. Parental uncertainty represents another mental dimension of the impact associated with the designation of CRMS/CFSPID. These observations suggest that parents of infants with CRMS/CFSPID should be provided with effective communication, and it may also be beneficial to consider parental mental screening. More robust and long-term studies are required to detect differences in parental emotional status between those with infants diagnosed with CF and those with CRMS/CFSPID. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Supporting Children with Chronic Illness and Their Families)

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