Dejan Stevanovic

Clinic for neurology and psychiatry for children and youth Belgrade · Child and adolescent psychiaty

In this systematic review, we assessed available evidence for cross-cultural measurement invariance of assessment scales for child and adolescent psychopathology as an indicator of cross-cultural validity. A literature search was conducted using the Medline, PsychInfo, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases. Cross-cultural measurement...

Introduction: It is supposed that both antidepressants and psychotherapies work in a manner consistent with cognitive theories of depression when changing negative affective and cognitive distortions. This study evaluated changes in cognitive distortions (i.e., systematic misinterpretations of new information) and affectivity in adolescent major de...

The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) is a simple and inexpensive tool for Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) assessments, with evidenced psychometric data from different countries. However, it is still unclear whether ASD symptoms are measured the same way across different societies and world regions with this tool, since data on its cross-cultural...

Background The continuous performance task (CPT) may help identify coexistent attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The Quantified behavior Test (QbTest) combines a CPT and motion-tracking data to assess ADHD symptoms. This study aimed to evaluate the QbTest performance of children and adolescents with A...

Background This study aimed to evaluate the endorsement rates of M-CHAT(-R) items by parents/caregivers of toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) synthesizing data from ten countries: Albania, Chile, Georgia, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Serbia, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States of America. Method Data were aggregated for toddler...

Over the past two decades, it has become clear that psychopathology exists on continuous spectra organized hierarchically from broad, general symptom dimensions to more specific ones. This structure is best represented by the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) framework that incorporates individual signs, symptoms, and behaviors at it...

This letter discusses the concept of the p factor, a general factor of psychopathology, and its potential connection to physical health. It references a study by Ferro and Chan (2024) that demonstrated the stability of the p factor in children with chronic physical illnesses. It also mentions the broader d factor, a shared underlying vulnerability...

Aim To determine changes in the quality of life associated with epilepsy in school-age children with newly diagnosed uncomplicated epilepsy over the first six months after diagnosis to find points relevant for the early prevention of deterioration in quality of life. Methods This prospective follow-up study, performed in University Children's Hospi...

Background: Research indicates that mental health problems should be conceptualized as continuous dimensions organized in a hierarchy. This implies the existence of a broad general dimension of psychopathology, complemented by more specific dimensions capturing various aspects. The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP), as the most compr...

The coexistence of mental and physical health illnesses could be accounted for by an underlying general disease factor (termed d-factor), reflecting theoretical underpinnings based on possible genetic and pathophysiological overlapping mechanisms. This study evaluated whether the d-factor underlies mental and physical health illnesses in adolescent...

U ovoj prezentaciji su date osnovne karakteristike prepoznavanja, simptoma i pristupa pomoći kod školskog pregorevanja, kao psihološkog poremećaja koji nastaje usled kontinuirane izloženosti stresovima vezanim za školu/studije kod učenika/studenata, a čine ga emocionalna iscrpljenost, depersonalizacija (cinizam) i nisko lično postignuće.

This presentation provides an up-to-date overview of irritability, summarizing its definition, presentation, etiology, and treatments with a focus on medications, particularly among youth. It explains that irritability: (a) Represents an increased proneness to anger that is continuously distributed within the population and expressed consistently...

Our network analysis revealed that thought and mood/arousal disturbances proved to be most interconnected with all other nodes/subfactors in the network suggesting that these subfactors could be central in youth psychopathology. This result reinforces earlier observations, indicating that thought dysfunction encompasses more than just disordered th...

Deca sa poremećajem iz spektra autizma često ispoljavaju različite pridružene oblike ponašanja, na primer u vidu agresije, hiperaktivnosti ili stereotipnosti, a koji značajno ometaju njihovo svakodnevno funkcionisanje. Ova remetilačka ponašanja predstavljaju ponavljane obrasce ponašanja koji narušavaju socijalne interakcije sa vršnjacima, a uzi...

Jedanaesta revizija Međunarodne klasifikacije bolesti (MKB-11), koja je izašla 2019. godine, prvi put je uvela dijagnostičku grupu pod nazivom neurorazvojni poremećaji, pored drugih bihejvioralnih i mentalnih poremećaja. Neurorazvojni poremećaji uključuju širok spektar poteškoća i oštećenja u razvoju kognitivnih i/ili motoričkih funkcija i predstav...

Neurorazvojne poteškoće nastaju rano u životu, a podrazumevaju širok spektar razvojnih deficita koji se često javljaju zajedno, preklapaju se i/ili prethode jedna drugoj, što predstavlja veliki izazov za pravilnu dijagnostiku i eventualno lečenje. Poremećaj iz spektra autizma je u većini slučaja udružen sa drugim neurorazvojnim poremećajima razvoja...

Background and study aims The first symptoms of mental illness usually begin during youth, the developmental stage between 12 and 24 years of age. The first manifestations of mental illness are often subtle and do not meet diagnostic criteria for specific diagnoses. This period is critical because early detection and treatment can maximize recovery...

Parental stress among parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is well-documented in the literature. The current study investigated the relationship between the phenomenon of affiliate stigma and parental stress among parents of children diagnosed with ASD using the mediation model. This cross-sectional study involved 196 parents age...

Objectives: Evidence suggests that both N-Acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) and NAC in combination with propolis (NAC-P) reduce symptoms of acute bronchitis and improve Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL). This study aimed to compare the impact of NAC and NAC-P therapy on acute bronchitis patients' quality of life. Design, setting, and subjects: A randomi...

Psychopharmacological treatment is an important component of the multimodal intervention approach to treating mental health conditions in children and adolescents. Currently, there are many unmet needs but also opportunities, alongside possible risks to consider, regarding the pharmacological treatment of mental health conditions in children and ad...

This presentation gives an overview of the transdiagnostic dimensional approach to psychopathology, including the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) framework in youth. Using data from a multicultural sample of youths, it presents our study confirming the p-factor, with three higher-level components, namely cognitive-emotional-arousal...

U ovoj prezentacije je dat kratak opis osnovnih aspekata neurorazvojnih poremećaja, prisutne emocionalne poteškoće kod njih, kao i specifičnosti ADHD simptoma. Poseban osvrt je dat na fragilni X sindrom.

U ovoj prezentacije je dat kratak pregled radova i dokazi o primeni antidepresiva i antiepleptika kod dece sa glavoboljama.

The article is about how to diagnose different neurodevelopmental, behavioral and mental disorders and associated symptoms in Fragile X Syndrome using the ICD 11.

Objective: Complete or major symptoms of ADHD are often present in epilepsy. This study evaluated inattention and hyperactivity symptoms over the first 6 months in newly diagnosed pediatric epilepsy without comorbid ADHD. Method: Children and adolescents with newly diagnosed epilepsy were followed for 6 months after starting antiseizure medicati...

A joint working group between the International Society of CNS Clinical Trials and Methodology (ISCTM) and the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) was formed in the latter part of 2020 to explore possible ways to mitigate the impact of Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) in clinical trials while attempting to advance approaches and cap...

U ovoj prezentaciji je prikazano kakvo je savremeno shvatanje neurorazvojnih poremećaja, zašto nam je potreban savremeni pristup dijagnostikovanju i lečenju i zašto nam je potrebna saradnja sa stručnjacima iz oblasti specijalne edukacije i rehabilitacije.

Objective: The QbTest that combines a continuous performance task (CPT) with a motion-tracking system may help identify attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study examined the structure and diagnostic ability of the QbTest in children and adolescents. Method: Retrospective data from 1,274 children and adolescents were analyzed....

Ova prezentacija daje kraći pregled karakteristika sindroma PANS i PANDAS, kao i osnovne smernice za dijagnostiku i lečenje.

Objectives: One of the most promising Theory of Mind (ToM) tests developed for children with ASD is the Theory of Mind Task Battery (ToM-TB). Still, additional psychometric properties of this tool need to be assessed. The main objective of this preregistered study was to investigate the known-groups and convergent validities of the ToM-TB compared...

U ovoj prezentaciji, predstavljen je brzi skrining za pedijatre, druge zdravstvene radnike i zdravstvene saradnike za ranu detekciju dece pod rizikom za poremećaj iz spektra autizma. Dete već od 12. meseci i starije je pod rizikom za autizam, ako ima 1 i više NE: • Ne odaziva se na poziv po imenu iz više pokušaja, • Ne gleda u lice - nema kontakta...

The pace of development and implementation of novel medications in child and adolescent psychiatry has remained slow. We systematically searched https://clinicaltrials.gov/ and https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/ (from 01/01/2010 to 08/23/2022) for phase 2 or 3 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of medications without regulatory approval in the...

Objective: To compare psychiatric emergencies and self-harm at emergency departments (EDs) one year into the pandemic, to early pandemic and pre-pandemic, and to examine the changes in the characteristics of self-harm presentations. Method: This retrospective cohort study expanded on the Pandemic-Related Emergency Psychiatric Presentations (PREP-ki...

This presentation gives an overview of the current understanding of the nosology, neuropsychology, and neurobiology of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD is a neurodevelopmental condition presenting with the main core symptom domains of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, but with vast heterogeneity in the expression of...

The text gives an overview of the current evidence from reviews and randomized control trials on using antidepressants and antiepileptic medications for the prevention of pediatric headaches.

Background: We aimed to examine the quality of life of children who engage in regular physical activities. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study with intersectional 301 children (182 boys and 119 girls) in-volved in regular sporting activities and the control group of 100 children (67 boys and 33 girls), not involved in extracurricular spor...

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has continued for more than two years, and the impact of this pandemic on mental health has become one of the most important research topics in psychiatry and psychology. The aim of the present study was to assess psychological distress in adolescents across five countries (Sweden, Moroc...

To examine the differences in hospital emergency psychiatric presentations for self-harm of children and adolescents during the covid-19 lockdown in March and April 2020 compared with the same period in 2019. Retrospective cohort study. We used electronic patient records from 23 hospital emergency departments in ten countries grouped into 14 areas....

Background The Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire-Short Form (Q-LES-Q-SF) is the most frequently used generic quality of life (QOL) measure in many countries and cultures worldwide. However, no single study has been carried out to investigate whether this questionnaire performs similarly across diverse cultures/countries. Acco...

Background: The aim of this study was to identify predictors of the Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in patients with head and neck cancers (HNCs). Material and Methods: In total, 345 patients with HNCs were interviewed. A self-report questionnaire was ad- ministered to collect data about demographic characteristics, health status, smoking, a...

The Life History of Aggression (LHA) is a frequently used scale for assessing trait aggression, but its psychometric properties have not been evaluated among adolescents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the LHA among high school students from Morocco, Serbia, Sweden, Vietnam, and the United States of America (US...

Background Lockdown during the pandemic has had significant impacts on public mental health. Previous studies suggest an increase in self-harm and suicide in children and adolescents. There has been little research on the roles of stringent lockdown. Aims To investigate the mediating and predictive roles of lockdown policy stringency measures in s...

Background Problematic Internet gaming is an increasingly recognized global mental health problem. This multicultural cross-sectional study examined the association between Internet gaming disorder (IGD) symptoms and anxiety and depressive symptoms and substance use within a sample of young Internet users. In total, 3529 college/university students...

Early Symptomatic Syndromes Eliciting Neurodevelopmental Clinical Examinations (ESSENCE) is an umbrella term covering a wide range of neurodevelopmental difficulties and disorders. Thus, ESSENCE includes attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and other neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) and difficulties, w...

Objective This study evaluated levels of and predictors of emotional and behavioral symptoms in youth with pre-existing mental health conditions over the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 across Georgia, Lithuania, Romania, Serbia, and Turkey. Methods The study included 421 children and adolescents aged 5 − 18 years with pre-existing me...

Background Major depressive disorder is a severe illness that frequently manifests before the age of 18 years, often recurring later in life. Paediatric medical treatment options are scarce. The melatonin receptor agonist and 5-hydroxytryptamine2C receptor antagonist agomelatine is used to treat adults, and could offer a new therapeutic option for...

Long-term studies indicated changes in aspects of cognition, psychopathology, and quality of life (QOL) in children and adolescents followed up after the diagnosis of epilepsy. However, evidence is limited regarding what happens during the first few months after epilepsy is diagnosed because at this phase is possible to adjust and/or change an AED...

The ICMH-SG started in 2011 as a small network of researchers from undeveloped and developing world regions. Since then, the ICMH-SG has made significant contributions to cross-cultural child and adolescent mental health (CAMH) research. It aspires to future improvements in CAMH practice and excellent cross-cultural CAMH research based on multisite...

Urađena je retrospektivna analiza podataka o pacijentima do 18. godine, koji su pregledani u Klinici u periodu mart-maj 2019., mart-maj 2020. i mart-maj 2021. god., kako bi se stekao uvid o kretanju procenata i tipova psihijatrijskih poremećaja kod pregledanih na početku i tokom COVID-19 pandemije. Analiza je urađena iz dostupne elektronske fakture...

Neurorazvojni poremećaji uključuju širok spektar poteškoća i oštećenja u razvoju kognitivnih i/ili motoričkih funkcija. Jedanaesta revizija Međunarodne klasifikacije bolesti (MKB-11), koja je izašla 2018. god. i čija primena bi trebalo da počne 2022. god., prvi put je uvela dijagnostičku grupu pod nazivom neurorazvojni poremećaji, koju čine poremeć...

This work studied self-reports from adolescents on how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed their behaviors, relationships, mood, and victimization. Data collection was conducted between September 2020 and February 2021 in five countries (Sweden, the USA, Serbia, Morocco, and Vietnam). In total, 5114 high school students (aged 15 to 19 years, 61.8% fe...

Following the growing global focus on deinstitutionalisation in the past 50 years, accessible community mental health services was a highlighted commitment in the European Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2020 to improve well-being of patients and families. The progress of transition has been uneven in some Eastern European countries. This paper aims...

Background Exposure to traumatic events in childhood is associated with the development and maintenance of various psychiatric disorders, but most frequently with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the types of traumatic events experienced and the presence and predictors of PTSD symptoms among adolescents fr...

Background The present study evaluated the underlying structure of the Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT) in a Serbian sample and its measurement properties for community-based screening. Method Data were collected from parents of 220 toddlers aged 15–36 months. The parents completed together the Q-CHAT and the Modified Checkli...

The core signs of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be objectivized by the Quantified behavior Test (QbTest), combining a continuous performance task (CPT) and motion tracking. The aim of this study was to evaluate the QbTest performance of children with ADHD before and after a single methylphenidate (MPH) dose.

Locus of control (LOC) is a modifiable mediator of symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among traumatized individuals and a potential target of intervention. Compared with studies involving adults, the potential mediation effect of LOC on PTSD symptoms among trauma-exposed children and adolescents is relatively under-explored. This stud...

Introduction The Quantified behavior Test (QbTest), which combines a continuous performance task (CPT) and motion tracking, provides data for the core signs of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of children and adolescents with ADHD on the QbTest b...

The discovery of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) opened the possibilities for reprogramming adult somatic cells back to a pluripotent state in vitro by inducing a forced expression of specific transcription factors. Thus, iPSCs might have potential application in regenerative medicine, transplantation, avoidance of tissue rejection, disease...

Background: The Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) was designed to assess patients’ perception of the impact of oral disorders on their quality of life (QoL). Although the OHIP-14 is now frequently used in patients with head and neck cancer, data related to its measurement properties in this population are scarce. The aim of the present study...

Background and objective The current article explored the possibility of using daily internet use time as an indicator for problematic internet use (PIU) among college/ university students based on observations from a multi-centric, multi-country study conducted across eight different countries. Additionally, the current article explored whether da...

Introduction Exposure to traumatic events in childhood and adolescence is associated with the development and maintenance of various psychopathologies, such as anxiety, depression, somatic, but most frequently with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Adolescent PTSD is unresearched in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Objectives To evalua...

The Internet and its negative consequences to mental health is one of the fastest growing research fields over the past decade. This editorial gives an overview of available knowledge on problematic behaviors related to Internet use. The current psychiatric terminology recognizes disorders due to substance use or addictive behaviors, with gaming di...

The logistic regression (LR) model for assessing differential item functioning (DIF) is highly dependent on the asymptotic sampling distributions. However, for rare events data, the maximum likelihood estimation method may be biased and the asymptotic distributions may not be reliable. In this study, the performance of the regular maximum likelihoo...

The present study evaluated the psychometric properties of a self-report scale for assessing Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) symptoms according to the DSM–5 and ICD–11 among 3270 college/university students (2095 [64.1%] females; age mean 21.6 [3.1] years) from different countries worldwide. Croatian, English, Polish, Portuguese, Serbian, Turkish, a...

Introduction/Objective. The aim of this study was to coIntroduction/Objective. The aim of this study was to compare kinematic features and graphic rules of writing between children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (with and without medical treatment) and typically developed children (TDC). Methods. In total, 55 children (26 with...

1-25% of college/university students worldwide at risk for IGD Our results of the k-means cluster analysis performed with six non-invariant items in the total sample showed that 2480 (75.8%) of participants clustered in a none/low-risk group (Cluster 1), participants responding mostly never (≥ 90%) or almost never (≤ 28%), 555 (17%) of participant...

The Internet gaming disorder self-report by the ICMH-SG (ICMH-IGD scale)

A current research trend is the identification of psychosocial variables that moderate and/or mediate the association between stressors and psychopathological symptoms. Research has shown Locus of Control (LoC) is a key cognitive component of this psychological process in adolescents from individualist cultures. It is unclear whether this finding c...

Background and aims Internet use has increased worldwide exponentially over the past two decades, with no up-to-date cross-country comparison of Problematic Internet Use (PIU) and its correlates available. The present study aimed to explore the pattern and correlates of PIU across different countries in the European and the Asian continent. Further...

Different anxiety and/or depressive disorders are possible to be diagnosed in diabetes. Every third person with diabetes, including children and adolescents, could have significant symptoms of anxiety and/or depressive disorders. It is highly likely that the diagnoses of these disorders will change over time, but the two would be persistent and rec...

Background: Children and adolescents are often exposed to traumatic events, which may lead to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is therefore important for clinicians to screen for potential symptoms that can be signs of PTSD onset. PTSD in youth is a worldwide problem, thus congruent screening tools in various languages ar...

This study aimed to analyze the measurement properties of the Health-related quality of life questionnaire for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOSQ-50) in a sample of Serbian women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Seventy-six women with PCOS from an endocrinology clinic and 28 healthy women participated between October 2016 and March 2017. The me...

Background: Prescribing psychotropic medications is an important intervention for many children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders. Over the past two decades, psychotropic medications have been increasingly approved for use in children and adolescents, while studies reporting on time trends have clearly indicated an increase in their use [1...

Writing is a complex skill and it can be affected by many factors. One of the most obvious is handedness. The actual influence of handedness (especially left-handedness, since almost 10% of the population is left-handed) onto writing performance has not been fully studied in previous research. Digitalized kinematic analyses and assessments of writi...

A review was conducted on available screeners for Autism Spectrum Disorders. Instruments were evaluated on the following main criteria: to be free, short, reliable and valid, covering a wide age range, no IQ limits, and no training requiring. Results showed that there are 18 screeners used in low- and middle-income regions, but only the M-CHAT met...

Anksiozni i depresivni poremećaji su psihijatrijska stanja koja karakterišu emotivne, kognitivne i bihejvioralne izmene, uz značajno narušeno funkcionisanje. Urađen je sistematski pregled literature u PubMedu koji se odnosio na magnezijum, anksioznost i depresiju. Na osnovu dosadašnjih studija,primećeno je da postoje minimalni dokazi da je magnezij...

Sažetak Neurorazvojini poremećaji predstavljaju grupu stanja koji nastaju vrlo rano u životu, a koje karakteriše prisustvo različitih deficita u jednom ili više emotivnih, kognitivnih, bihejvioralnih, motornih i/ili socijalnih razvojnih aspekata. Procenjuje se da oko 10% dece i adolescenata do 18 godina ima jednu ili više neurorazvojnih poteškoća....

Background: Accumulated evidence indicates that exposure to trauma is associated with the development of cognitive impairments and psychiatric symptoms in children and adolescents. Objective: In this case study of a female adolescent of 17 years, we aimed to evaluate how cortical positron emission tomography (PET) abnormalities relate to psychog...

Purpose The Early Symptomatic Syndromes Eliciting Neurodevelopmental Clinical Examinations – Questionnaire (ESSENCE-Q) was developed as a brief screener to identify children with developmental concerns who might have neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). This study aimed to translate the ESSENCE-Q into south Slavic languages, namely, Bosnian, Bulgar...

Validation study of the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) and Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) across world regions: The Autism Spectrum Disorder International Consortium (ASDIC) Objectives - To evaluate the measurement invariance of different cultural/language versions of the M-CHAT and CARS and across different world region...

Background The dramatic increase in the prevalence of obesity in developed and developing countries has become a major health care concern. Accordingly, there is growing recognition of the relationship between health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and obesity in the pediatric population. This study aimed to explore the relationship between HRQOL a...

Objectives: International data showed that in countries with various income levels there are regions where limited resources hamper autism services for diagnosis and treatment. The Autism Spectrum Disorder International Consortium (ASDIC) brings together academic partners from different parts of the world and aims for improving care and research in...