Blood phenylalanine instability strongly correlates with anxiety in phenylketonuria

Bozena Didycz; Miroslaw Bik-Multanowski

doi:10.1016/j.ymgmr.2017.12.003

Blood phenylalanine instability strongly correlates with anxiety in phenylketonuria

Mol Genet Metab Rep. 2017 Dec 27:14:80-82. doi: 10.1016/j.ymgmr.2017.12.003. eCollection 2018 Mar.

Authors

Bozena Didycz¹, Miroslaw Bik-Multanowski¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Medical Genetics, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland.

Abstract

We assessed the relationship between anxiety and long-term metabolic control in adolescents with phenylketonuria (PKU). We used a standardized psychological test to measure anxiety level and analyzed lifelong blood phenylalanine stability in a selected group of 25 PKU teenagers with treatment adherence problems. We demonstrated significant correlations of anxiety with variability of blood phenylalanine concentrations and with severity of hyperphenylalaninemia. Avoiding blood phenylalanine fluctuations in childhood can probably reduce anxiety in PKU adolescents.

Keywords: Adolescents; Neuropsychiatric symptoms; PKU; PKU, phenylketonuria; Phe, phenylalanine; Quality of life; STAI, State Trait Anxiety Inventory; Treatment adherence.