Maunsell et al identified factors associated with quality of life (QOL) in long-term survivors of childhood malignant disease in Canada. This can help identify survivors who may require closer monitoring and interventions to improve long-term outcome. The authors are from University of Quebec, University of Laval, University of Toronto and University of Western Ontario in Canada.
Patient selection:
(1) adolescent or young adult
(2) history of childhood cancer, most >= 10 years earlier
Factors associated with poorer physical dimensions of QOL (all known at the end of treatment):
(1) CNS or bone cancer
(2) 2 or more treatment series (used as a proxy for tumor relapse)
(3) >= 2 dysfunctional organs at the end of treatment (probably a proxy for the intensity of therapy)
A survivor with 2 or 3 of these factors tended to have a high effect size (>= 0.5) in physical effect summary scores of the SF-36. A history of >= 2 dysfunctional organs was associated with poorer quality of life with respect to physical and psychosocial domains.
Almost two thirds of survivors had very good to excellent general health. While survivors are more likely to report specific health problems than normal controls, usually the differences from controls are small and not clinically important.
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