Psychological functioning in children with hydrocephalus: a scoping review.

Objective: This scoping review aimed to assess themes and gaps in the existing scope of literature regarding psychological outcomes and quality of life in children with hydrocephalus.

Methods: Using the search criteria "pediatric AND hydrocephalus AND (psychological OR behavioral OR emotional OR cognitive)," the authors imported articles from SCOPUS, PubMed, PsycINFO, PsycArticles, and independent citation searches into Covidence, and duplicates were removed (n = 372). After the abstract and full text were screened, the remaining articles (n = 44) underwent data extraction to identify key psychological outcomes and themes in the literature. Findings were quantified using descriptive statistics in SPSS software, and themes were analyzed to interpret knowledge trends and gaps in current studies.

Results: These studies examined psychological outcomes in pediatric hydrocephalus, focusing on neuropsychological (56%), behavioral and emotional (32%), academic (13.6%), and developmental (11.4%) outcomes. Most studies were cross sectional (56.8%), with sample sizes ranging from 6 to 467 participants. Neuropsychological impairments, particularly in intelligence, memory, and attention, were prevalent, as were behavioral and emotional problems, especially internalizing behaviors. The literature supported diminished quality of life in pediatric hydrocephalus populations, and several medical factors such as severity of hydrocephalus and treatment type were found to influence psychological functioning and outcomes.

Conclusions: This scoping review highlights neuropsychological, behavioral, and emotional challenges in children with hydrocephalus, with deficits observed primarily in intelligence, memory, attention, and quality of life. Limitations in standardization of follow-up with patients made a systematic review difficult to conduct. Nonetheless, findings reveal the need for targeted interventions in these areas, as well as further research on the influence of medical factors, treatment type, and severity of hydrocephalus on long-term outcomes.