Anxiety in Children with Cystic Fibrosis and Their Parents: A Systematic Review

Individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) are at high risk of clinically significant anxiety, which can be related to lower treatment adherence and poorer health outcomes. Additionally, up to half of the parents/caregivers of children with CF experience clinically significant anxiety. Research has focussed on CF youth aged 13 years and older, leaving anxiety among school-aged children (aged 6-12 years) largely unstudied. This review aimed to synthesize research on anxiety among children with CF and their parents, examining prevalence, risk factors, and relationships between parent and child factors. Four electronic databases were searched, and publications were included if participants were children (or parents of children) with CF with a mean age between 6 and 12 years, and a standardized anxiety measure was used. Data from fourteen studies were extracted for descriptive synthesis; however, no studies focussed exclusively on the age range of 6-12 years. Results generally indicated that anxiety is highly prevalent in both child and parent populations; anxiety was the most prevalent mental health condition among children with CF, and anxiety was higher among CF populations than control populations among both children and parents. However, there were disparities, with some papers finding low rates of anxiety, and results on the relationship between anxiety and health outcomes varying greatly. Several risk factors were identified, but few were corroborated. There is an overall deficiency of research in this area, particularly examining the relationships between parent and child anxiety, and anxiety and health outcomes. Further research on suitable screening and intervention practices is also required.