Ching CB, Lee H, Mason MD, Clayton DB, Thomas JC, Pope JC, Adams MC, Brock JW, Tanaka ST. J. Urol. 2014; 193(2): 650-654.
Affiliation
Division of Pediatric Urology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center & Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN, USA. Electronic address: stacy.tanaka@vanderbilt.edu.
PURPOSE: Bullying has become a social plague associated with various deleterious outcomes. We hypothesized that pediatric lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) would be associated with bullying exposure.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: We assessed exposure to school bullying via "Setting the Record Straight" bullying questionnaire in children 8-11 years old being evaluated for LUTS in our pediatric urology clinic. LUTS was quantified with the Vancouver Symptom Score (VSS). Children 8-11 years old at pediatric well-visits also completed the same questionnaires. Linear regression assessed the relationship between VSS and bullying scores. Categorical variables were compared with chi-square test while continuous variables were compared using Student's t-test.
RESULTS: A total of 113 children in the urology clinic and 63 children in the primary care setting consented to participate. There were significant differences between the two populations such as gender and race, with significantly more perpetrators of bullying in the primary care group (7.9% vs. 0.9%, p=0.02). When looking specifically at the urology group, there was a significant association between VSS and self and peer perceived victimization scores (p<0.001 and <0.001). In the primary care group, there was a significant association between VSS and self and peer perceived bullying perpetrator scores (p=0.01 and 0.001). 33% of children seen in the primary care office had significant VSS.
CONCLUSIONS: Although bullying exposure is multi-factorial, we found that VSS can be associated with both bullying victimization and perpetrator score.