Description

Integration of mental health (MH) screening and treatment into cystic fibrosis (CF) care represents over 10 years of research and clinical progress, driven by elevated rates of depression and anxiety in the International Depression Epidemiological Study, MH guidelines, and CF Foundation implementation support to screen adolescents and adults in all CF Centers. Benefits of screening include earlier identification, greater access to care, reduced stigma, and positive uptake from the CF community.

However, TIDES did not include children with CF under 12 years. Depression and anxiety have increased dramatically in young children, with new guidelines for MH screening of children in primary care. Given the pediatric MH crisis and the widespread adoption of cystic fibrosis fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulator therapy, which have been associated with adverse events, there is an urgent need to gather MH data in children with CF <12 years. Thus, the goals of this study are to evaluate the national, longitudinal prevalence of depression, anxiety, and behavior problems in children with CF 18 months through 11 years, evaluate and compare the performance of two widely used brief screeners (criterion validity, sensitivity, specificity) to identify the optimal measures for this population, and characterize neuropsychiatric adverse events (AEs) associated with CFTR modulator therapy in this age group. Purposive randomized sampling will be used to recruit 600 children (half 18 mos.-5 yrs. and half 6-11 yrs.) at 16 CF Centers across the US. This study will estimate the prevalence of children above the clinical cut-score on each symptom domain (depression, anxiety, behavior problems) and evaluate their longitudinal course and predictors. Rigorous mixed methods will be used to describe any potential AEs perceived by parents or children to be associated with CFTR modulator therapy. This study will provide the groundwork to extend mental health screening and care to younger children with CF.