Finnish children who experienced narcolepsy after receiving the Pandemrix vaccine during the 2009-2010 H1N1 pandemic demonstrated high level of psychosocial problems.

<bold>Aim: </bold>We assessed psychosocial burdens in children who developed narcolepsy after receiving the Pandemrix H1N1 vaccine during the 2009-2010 pandemic. Parental quality of life was also assessed.<bold>Methods: </bold>This multicentre study covered four of the five Finnish University Hospital Districts, which dealt with about 90% of the paediatric narcolepsy cases after the Pandemrix vaccination. The medical records of children diagnosed from 2010 to 2014 were reviewed. The questionnaires included the Youth Self-Report (YSR), Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and questions on parental resources, stress and quality of life.<bold>Results: </bold>We obtained the medical records of 94 children who were aged 5-17 years at the time of their narcolepsy diagnosis and questionnaire data for 73 of those children. Most children had strong narcolepsy symptoms, and 25% had CDI scores that suggested depression. In addition, 41% had total CBCL problem scores above the clinically significant limit and 48% were anxious, withdrawn and had somatic complaints. Sleep latency was weakly associated with the CBCL total problem score. Half of the children needed psychiatric interventions and parental stress was common.<bold>Conclusion: </bold>Depression and behavioural problems were common in children with narcolepsy after the Pandemrix vaccination and their parents frequently reported feeling stressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]