Children and Adolescents with Hypospadias

Hypospadias is the most common penile malformation §with a reported incidence of about 3 per 1000 male §births. The common treatment enfolds early §corrective surgery with the goal of achieving a §typical looking penis, allowing micturition in the §standing position and enabling normal sexual §functions. The aim of this PhD-project was to assess §health-related quality of life, psychological §adjustment and psychosexual development of children §and adolescents with hypospadias and to identify §medical and psychosocial predictors of the outcome. §77 children and adolescents (7-17 years) operated on §for hypospadias at the University Children s §Hospital Zurich were investigated and compared to a §control group consisting of 77 boys after hernia §repair. In contrast to psychological adjustment and §psychosexual development, health-related quality of §life of boys was found to be impaired. Overall, §psychosocial factors such as the child s age, his §sense of shame and age-appropriate information about §hypospadias proved to be more important predictors §of the outcome than medical variables (e.g. the §quality of surgical result).