Transitioning from childhood into adolescence is an extraordinary time of life, associated with major physical, emotional, cognitive, and social changes and characterized by dynamic development in which interaction with the environment modulates the individual resources responsible for well-being and health. This sensitive period is the time when, in addition to hormonal, metabolic, and neural changes, certain behavioral strategies begin to take shape that will shortly go on to define the emotional, social, and cultural identity of the individual. This narrative review aimed to uncover the crucial processes underlying the transition by identifying processes that are responsible for cognitive, psychosocial, and emotional development, in the absence of disease. For this aim, we highlight (1) the physical, psychological, and social determinants during the transition from childhood to adolescence; (2) the role of health-related variables in resilience or vulnerability mechanisms; and (3) recent school-based strategies to promote health and well-being. Recognizing that health and well-being are the result of the interaction of many biological, psychological, social, cultural, and physical factors will lead to comprehensive health promotion involving all actors joining the growth process, from health professionals and the educational community to parents and community. Furthermore, it is important that psychosocial dimensions are strengthened already during childhood to prevent the onset of frailty and illness in adolescence.
Children living with chronic diseases represent a great challenge for the health care system, their families, and communities. These young patients face continuous medical needs that affect not only their health but also their daily routines, emotional well-being, and family dynamics. In response, clinical practice is increasingly integrating psychosocial indicators alongside traditional medical parameters. Consequently, there is a growing consensus that the evaluation of pediatric chronic diseases should address not only clinical dimensions but also the disease’s impact on socialization, emotional health, and daily functioning. This narrative review explores the role of psychosocial variables in the management of pediatric chronic illnesses, including the experiences of parents and siblings, with a focus on effective strategies to improve everyday life. The integration of quality of life and well-being within a multidimensional care model could be instrumental in both symptom management and psychosocial support. Recognizing that children with chronic conditions are at increased risk for long-term adverse outcomes, it is critical to develop interventions that go beyond clinical care, encompassing education, coping reinforcement, and family-centered approaches.
The thyroid–heart relationship has a long and articulated history of its own, a history that encompasses physiological and pathophysiological knowledge. In recent years, molecular biology studies, in an experimental context, have highlighted the extraordinary dialogue that exists among the two systems in the field of cardioprotection, which is an extremely important area for the treatment of cardiac diseases in both acute and chronic phases. In addition, in the last few years, several studies have been carried out on the prognostic impact of alterations in thyroid function, including subclinical ones, in heart disease, in particular in heart failure and acute myocardial infarction, with evidence of a negative prognostic impact of these and, therefore, with the suggestion to treat these alterations in order to prevent cardiac events, such as death. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the heart–thyroid relationship.
Background: Bullying is a hostile behavior repeated over a time period, affecting children and adolescents in different social settings, mainly small and stable ones like school, with negative effects on mental and physical health. In this study, we aimed to provide the degree of impairment of different variables related to health and well-being in bullying conditions, with attention to sex differences. Methods: Data were obtained from 5390 adolescents (mean age 13.08 ± 1.89; male 2729), and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was assessed using the KIDSCREEN-52 questionnaire. Results: In all students, mood and emotion, self-perception, and parental relationships are the dimensions more compromised in bullying conditions, while lifestyle habit is the variable less involved. Bullied girls show a significant impairment of all HRQoL variables both with respect to the socially accepted counterpart and to the male population. Conclusions: Our study highlights the strict association between bullying and emotional and social dimensions, suggesting that enhancing them preventively could facilitate earlier detection of problems, thereby reducing health risks.
Introduction: Adolescents experience rapid physical, cognitive, and psychosocial growth with different factors contributing to health and well-being. In this view, an important role is played by body weight and related perceptions. The purpose was to determine, in a sample of Italian high school students, whether health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is associated with the different weight status categories (underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese), even considering sex differences. Material and methods: Data were collected from 1826 adolescents (n = 735 males). HRQOL was analyzed using the Italian version of KIDSCREEN-52. Results: Overweight adolescents showed reductions in psychological well-being (p < 0.05) and self-perception (p < 0.05) compared with individuals in other BMI categories. Subjects with obesity reported increased bullying victimization (p < 0.05) and reductions in self-perception and eating disorders (p < 0.001), while underweight individuals were characterized by altered adherence to the Mediterranean diet (p < 0.001), eating disorders (p < 0.001), and problematic use of social media (p < 0.05). No sex differences were found, except for socio-economic status perceptions, where underweight girls reported higher economic well-being than boys (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Our findings may suggest that there is an association between weight status categories and HRQoL that is more pronounced in underweight and overweight adolescents. The association between BMI categories and psychosocial dimensions opens the need to define specific domains on which such preventive interventions should focus, always through a personalized perspective.
The thyroid-heart relationship has a long and articulated history of its own, a history that en-compasses physiological and pathophysiological knowledge, the latter particularly in the context of cardiac diseases such as heart failure, arrhythmias and ischaemic heart disease. In recent years, molecular biology studies, in an experimental context, have highlighted the extraordinary dialogue that exists among the two systems in the field of cardioprotection, being an extremely important area for the treatment of cardiac diseases in both acute and chronic phases. In addi-tion, in the last few years, several studies have been carried out on the prognostic impact of al-terations in thyroid function, including subclinical ones, in heart disease, in particular in heart failure and acute myocardial infarction, with evidence of a negative prognostic impact of these and therefore with the suggestion to treat these alterations in order to prevent cardiac events, such as death. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the heart-thyroid relation-ship.