Prevalence of hopelessness and suicidal ideation and their associated factors among pediatric patients with leukemia

Background With the increasing survival rate of pediatric patients with leukemia, improving their quality of life (QoL) is the new challenge. Psychiatric disorders are among the significant confounding factors of the aforementioned patients’ QoL. Ninety-seven pediatric patients with leukemia were evaluated based on the Beck Hopelessness and SI scale while considering associated factors. We assessed the prevalence of suicidal ideation (SI) and hopelessness, as two of the most prevalent psychiatric symptoms of pediatrics with malignancy while assessing some of the associated factors to provide a plenary insight. Results Prevalence of SI and hopelessness were 7.2% and 87.6% respectively. Gender, education, the abode of living, time from onset of disease, and parents’ education level and income states of many were significantly related to the prevalence of the two studied psychiatric disorders. Multiple logistic regression determined a significant confounding role of abode of living, parent’s education, onset, and type of leukemia in hopelessness. As for SI, the result of the latter test determined more confounding factors such as age and patients’ education. Conclusion Both SI and hopelessness are noticeable disorders among children with leukemia with multiple manageable associated factors; hence, it is advisable to recommend psychiatric assessment of leukemic children.