ESPE Abstracts

Objective: Our goal is to determine the impact of bullying on the general physical and emotional health (anxiety and depression) of children with short stature.

Method: From September 2020 to December 2020, we conducted a prospective cross-sectional and descriptive study, comparing children aged between 8 and 18 years diagnosed with short stature at a tertiary care Education and Research Hospital, a pediatric endocrinology clinic, with a control group of children admitted to the same hospital but without any chronic diseases. The first part of the questionnaire recorded descriptive information about the child and family, followed by a series of 13 items asking about somatic complaints in the past year. Child participants filled out the second part of the questionnaire, which included the Child Depression Scale, the Children's Anxiety Disorders Assessment Scale, and the Child Bullying Scale.

Results: A total of 128 children with 60 short stature (height sss -2,77±0,66) and 68 normal height and weight (height sss 0,11±1) participated in our study. The number of girls was 26 (43.33%), the number of boys was 34 (56.67%), the number of girls in the control group was 35 (51.47%), and the number of boys was 33 (48.53%). We detected bullying and exposure to bullying in each group. Bullying has affected 35 (58.33%) and 55 (91.66%) of those with short stature. 52 (76.47%) of the children in the control group bullied other children, while 49 (72.05%) suffered bullying from other children. The CDI-depression scale score in the healthy group was 6,71±4,69, and the CADAS-anxiety disorder scale score was 18,1±10,6. In the CDI-depression scale, the group with a short stature was 8,65±4,18, and the CADAS-anxiety disorder scale score was 19,92±10,29. Although the anxiety disorder score did not differ significantly in both groups, children with short stature had a higher depression scale score. The academic performance of the patients with short stature revealed that those with moderate lessons had higher victim scores than those with good lessons. Bullying was less common among students who achieved relative success in their classes. The presence of comorbid physical disease significantly affected the CDI Scale Score levels. We found that those with comorbid diseases were more depressed.

Conclusion: According to the study's findings, bullying is common among school-age children, whether in the short-stature group or the healthy group.