Background: Stuttering is a developmental disorder which may adversely affect the individual on many emotional levels and cause many impairments (e.g. lack of self- confidence, depression, poor communication and finally the avoidance of social situation. This study was carried out to evaluate the comorbidity of mental dis‌orders among the stuttering children in Kashan during 2007-8.

Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 50 children (age range, 3-12 years) referred to speech therapy department of Akhavan hospital were selected using the census sampling. The diagnosis of mental disorders was made by psychiatrists through a clinical interview based on the DSM-IV-TR checklist. In addition, the IQ of cases was measured using the Wechsler test. Data were analyzed using the Chi-square test.

Results: Thirty-three children (70%) had the comorbid mental disorders. The most common comorbid disorders were attention deficit hyperactivity and anxiety disorders (51.4% and 25.7%, respectively). A significant difference was found between the comorbid mental disorder and the age and also the educational level of children (P=0.005 and P=0.003, respectively).

Conclusion: According to the results, the majority of children had comorbid mental disorders. Considering the high rates of comorbidity among the children and also their outcomes, more careful attention should be paid to offer the effective therapeutic plans.

Background: Asthma is among the most common chronic childhood disease. The recent studies suggest that some school and behavioral problems manifesting the hyperactivity   symptoms are caused by asthma and its related treatment. While other studies show no association between these factors. Therefore, this study was carried out to determine the comorbidity of attention deficiency and hyperactivity among the asthmatic children in Kashan during 2013.

Materials and Methods:  In this case-control study, the asthmatic children (n=89) referring to the Asthma and Allergy Clinic in Kashan were selected based on purposive sampling method as the Case group  and  age/sex-matched healthy children (n=117) were randomly selected as Control group. The spirometry and pick flowmetry tests were used for the diagnosis of asthma. The DSM-IV criteria were also used for the diagnosis of attention deficiency associated with hyperactivity.  

Results: The comorbidity of attention deficiency and hyperactivity among the asthmatic children was 5 times more than the Control (P=0.001) (OR: 5.67, CI: 2.66-12.08). In this study no significant relation was seen between the attention deficiency associated with hyperactivity and the severity of asthma and also the sex (P=0.624 and P=0.06, respectively).

Conclusion: Asthma probably increase the risk of attention deficiency associated with hyperactivity. Therefore the diagnosis and treatment of behavioral disorders in asthmatic children is considered important.