Analysis of Risk Factors for Abnormal Pulmonary Function in Pediatric Cancer Survivors.

BACKGROUND: Childhood cancer survivors are at increased risk for pulmonary-related morbidity and mortality. The Children's Oncology Group Long-Term Follow-Up (COG-LTFU) guidelines recommend pulmonary function testing after treatment with bleomycin, busulfan, carmustine, lomustine, thoracic radiation, bone marrow transplant, or pulmonary surgery. The aim of this analysis was to determine the prevalence of pulmonary function abnormalities in a pediatric survivor cohort. PROCEDURE: Patients ≥5 years old seen in our survivor clinic with at least one exposure outlined by COG-LFTU Guidelines were included. Original pulmonary function test (PFT) results were obtained and blindly reinterpreted by a single reviewer. Demographic, diagnosis, treatment factors, and clinical and/or patient-reported symptoms of cough, wheeze, and/or dyspnea were abstracted from their medical record. RESULTS: Overall, 143 (63.3%) survivors had PFT results available; 55.2% were male, 49.7% were white, and the mean age was 14.1 ± 4.8 years. Abnormal PFTs were found in 65.0% (n = 93) with 21.0% having multiple abnormalities. Specifically, 41.3% had hyperinflation, 25.9% had obstructive, and 13.3% had restrictive disease. Patients diagnosed at <5 years were more likely to have a pulmonary abnormality (P = 0.04); a majority of those diagnosed <5 years underwent pulmonary surgery or thoracic radiation. Regardless of the presence of a PFT abnormality, more than 80% of survivors were asymptomatic (82.9% vs.81.5%; P-value = 0.54). CONCLUSIONS: Almost two-thirds of survivors screened per the COG-LTFU Guidelines had an abnormal PFT but a majority reported no clinical symptoms. Hyperinflation was the most prevalent abnormality.

Access to and Use of the Internet by Veterans with Serious Mental Illness.

This study evaluated internet use among 239 veterans with serious mental illness who completed questionnaires assessing demographics and internet use in 2010-2011. The majority of individuals (70 %) reported having accessed the internet and among those, 79 % had accessed it within the previous 30 days. Those who were younger and more educated were more likely to have accessed the internet, as were those with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, or major depressive disorder, compared to individuals with PTSD. Veterans with serious mental illness commonly use the internet, including to obtain health information, though use varies across demographic characteristics and clinical diagnosis.

Survivor care for pediatric cancer survivors: a continuously evolving discipline.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This article summarizes recent findings regarding the prevalence of chronic health conditions, cardiovascular and pulmonary late effects, and second malignancies in childhood cancer survivors (CCSs), and examines facilitators and barriers to survivor care. RECENT FINDINGS: The estimated cumulative prevalence for a serious chronic disease in CCSs is 80% by age 45. The crude prevalence for cardiac conditions is 56.4% and for pulmonary dysfunction is 65.2%. Research in cardio-oncology is focused on better methods of predicting risk for cardiac dysfunction, and better methods of detection and interventions to prevent cardiac late effects. Pulmonary late effects, recognized to be a significant cause of late mortality, were detected by surveillance tests in more than 50% of CCSs but are often subclinical. Rates of subsequent malignant neoplasm continue to increase as the population ages. All of these factors make it clear that life-long surveillance is required and models of care should consider risk for late effects and socioeconomic and patient-specific factors. SUMMARY: It is becoming clear that there is no age after which the occurrence of late effects plateaus and surveillance can be reduced. Survivors should be empowered to advocate for their survivor care and options for follow-up should be tailored to their needs.

Elevated tricuspid regurgitant velocity as a marker for pulmonary hypertension in children with sickle cell disease: less prevalent and predictive than previously thought?

Although elevated tricuspid regurgitant velocity (TRV), an echocardiographic marker for pulmonary hypertension, has previously been tied to mortality in adult patients with sickle cell disease, recent data demonstrated that it correlates poorly with catheterization findings. We describe the largest echocardiographic evaluation of pediatric patients with sickle cell disease to date, specifically the results of a protocol whereby a TRV≥250 cm/s prompted further evaluation. We investigated if elevated TRV would independently identify patients at risk for increased morbidity. A clinical echocardiographic database containing 630 patients with sickle cell disease was retrospectively reviewed; 120 patients (19%) met inclusion criteria and were compared 1:1 to randomly selected age-matched controls from the same database. By multivariate analysis, the elevated TRV cohort did not differ from controls in likelihood of acute chest episodes, hospitalization, or stroke. The study cohort's mean TRV in fact decreased to 242±33 cm/s at follow-up without a discernible and comprehensive intervention to explain the improvement. Three patients had catheterization-proven pulmonary hypertension. In conclusion, elevated TRV in children with sickle cell disease is less prevalent than previously thought and is not independently associated with increased short-term morbidity.

Perceptions of body mass index (BMI) in pediatric cancer survivors and their providers.

BACKGROUND: Abnormalities in BMI are well documented in childhood cancer survivors. Perceptions of BMI status in cancer survivors have been understudied. This study determines the accuracy of parent/survivor and provider reporting of BMI status in a cancer survivor program. PROCEDURE: This is a retrospective study. Parent/survivor assessment of BMI status was obtained from a baseline questionnaire of subjects enrolled in Children's Healthcare of Atlanta-Childhood, Adolescent, and Young Adult Cancer Survivor Study (CHOA-CAYACSS). Provider reporting of BMI was obtained from a clinic visit close in date to completion of the survey. Perceptions of BMI were compared to actual BMI status calculated from clinic visits and categorized based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) BMI guidelines. RESULTS: Perceptions of BMI were collected from 290 survivors of pediatric cancer or their parents (range, 4.3-22.9 years). Nearly 5% of survivors were underweight, 19.7% overweight and 16.2% obese. High BMI was the BMI state least likely to be correctly identified by parents, survivors, and providers. Among survivors with high BMI, parents, survivors, and providers failed to identify the problem 49.4%, 66.7%, and 26.9% of the time, respectively. Providers were less likely to correctly identify overweight compared to obese status (P < 0.0001). Accuracy of BMI recognition was independent of gender of survivor, ethnicity, or primary cancer diagnosis. CONCLUSION: Abnormal BMI states, especially overweight, are frequently not correctly perceived by parents/survivors or providers. Assessment of BMI status and discussion about steps to normalize BMI is needed to prevent weight related morbidities in this population.

Tissue registration and exploration user interfaces in support of a human reference atlas.

Seventeen international consortia are collaborating on a human reference atlas (HRA), a comprehensive, high-resolution, three-dimensional atlas of all the cells in the healthy human body. Laboratories around the world are collecting tissue specimens from donors varying in sex, age, ethnicity, and body mass index. However, harmonizing tissue data across 25 organs and more than 15 bulk and spatial single-cell assay types poses challenges. Here, we present software tools and user interfaces developed to spatially and semantically annotate ("register") and explore the tissue data and the evolving HRA. A key part of these tools is a common coordinate framework, providing standard terminologies and data structures for describing specimen, biological structure, and spatial data linked to existing ontologies. As of April 22, 2022, the "registration" user interface has been used to harmonize and publish data on 5,909 tissue blocks collected by the Human Biomolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP), the Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions program (SPARC), the Human Cell Atlas (HCA), the Kidney Precision Medicine Project (KPMP), and the Genotype Tissue Expression project (GTEx). Further, 5,856 tissue sections were derived from 506 HuBMAP tissue blocks. The second "exploration" user interface enables consortia to evaluate data quality, explore tissue data spatially within the context of the HRA, and guide data acquisition. A companion website is at https://cns-iu.github.io/HRA-supporting-information/ .

Development and Feasibility Testing of a Smartphone Intervention to Improve Adherence to Antipsychotic Medications.

Approximately 60% of individuals with schizophrenia do not take their antipsychotic medications as prescribed, and nonadherence is associated with exacerbation of psychotic symptoms, increased hospital and emergency room use, and increased healthcare costs. Behavioral-tailoring strategies that incorporate medication taking into the daily routine and use environmental supports have shown promise as adherence-enhancing interventions. Informed by the Information-Motivation-Behavioral (IMB) Skills Model and using the iterative process of user-centered design, we collaborated with individuals with schizophrenia and psychiatrists to develop an interactive smartphone application and web-based clinician interface, MedActive, for improving adherence to oral antipsychotic treatment. MedActive facilitates the active involvement of individuals with schizophrenia in managing their antipsychotic medication regimen by providing automated reminders for medication administration and tailored motivational feedback to encourage adherence, and by displaying user-friendly results of daily ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) of medication adherence, positive psychotic symptoms, and medication side effects for individuals and their psychiatrists. In a 2-week open trial completed by 7 individuals with schizophrenia and their psychiatrists, MedActive was determined to be both feasible and acceptable, with patient participants responding to 80% of all scheduled EMAs and providing positive evaluations of their use of the application. Psychiatrist participants were interested in viewing the information provided on the MedActive clinician interface, but cited practical barriers to regularly accessing it and integrating into their daily practice.

A review of behavioral tailoring strategies for improving medication adherence in serious mental illness.

Nonadherence to psychopharmacological treatments poses a significant challenge to treatment success in individuals with serious mental illness, with upwards of 60% of people not taking their psychiatric medications as prescribed. Nonadherence is associated with adverse outcomes, including exacerbation of psychiatric symptoms, impaired functioning, increased hospitalizations and emergency room use, and increased health care costs. Whereas interventions using psychoeducation or cognitive approaches, such as motivational interviewing, have largely proven ineffective in improving adherence, approaches employing behavioral tailoring that incorporate medication taking into the daily routine and/or use environmental supports have shown promise. Recently, adherence-enhancing behavioral tailoring interventions that utilize novel technologies, such as electronic monitors and mobile phones, have been developed. Although interventions utilizing these platforms have the potential for widespread dissemination to a broad range of individuals, most require further empirical testing. This paper reviews selected behavioral tailoring strategies that aim to improve medication adherence and other functional outcomes among individuals with serious mental illness.

La falta de adherencia a los tratamientos psicofarmacológicos constituye un desafío significativo para el éxito terapéutico de sujetos con enfermedad mental grave, dado que hay más del 60% de personas que no toma sus medicamentos psiquiátricos como son prescritos. La falta de adherencia está asociada con resultados adversos, incluyendo la exacerbación de los síntomas psiquiátricos, el deterioro funcional, el aumento de las hospitalizaciones y de la consulta en servicios de urgencia, como el aumento de los costos de salud. Mientras que las intervenciones que utilizan aproximaciones de psicoeducación o cognitivas, tales como la entrevista motivacional, han demostrado ampliamente la ineficacia para mejorar la adherencia, las aproximaciones que emplean ajustes conductuales incorporando la ingesta de medicamentos dentro de la rutina diaria ylo el empleo de soportes ambientales han mostrado ser prometedoras. Recientemente se han desarrollado intervenciones conductuales que refuerzan la adherencia mediante el empleo de nuevas tecnologías como son los monitores electrónicos y los teléfonos móviles. Aunque las intervenciones que utilizan estas plataformas tienen el potencial de una amplia diseminación a una gran cantidad de individuos, la mayoría require de más pruebas empíricas. Este artículo revisa estrategias conductuales que tienen como objetivo mejorar la adherencia a la medicación y otros resultados funcionales entre individuos con enfermedad mental grave.

La non-observance des traitements psychopharmacologiques pose un problème important pour la réussite du traitement chez les personnes atteintes de maladie mentale grave, plus de 60 % des individus ne prenant pas les médicaments psychotropes tels qu'ils leur ont été présents. La non-observance est associée à des événements indésirables, y compris l'exacerbation des symptômes psychiatriques, la détérioration fonctionnelle, l'augmentation des hospitalisations et des passages aux urgences et l'augmentation des coûts des soins de santé. Les procédures utilisant des approches cognitives ou psychoéducatives, comme l'entretien motivationnel, se sont montrées largement inefficaces pour améliorer l'observance. Au contraire, les stratégies d'adaptation comportementale qui intègrent la prise de médicaments aux activités quotidiennes et/ou l'utilisation de différents supports facilitant l'observance, sont prometteuses. Récemment, des stratégies d'adaptation comportementale favorisant l'observance qui utilisent les nouvelles technologies, comme les moniteurs électroniques et les téléphones mobiles, se sont développées. Les procédures utilisant ces plateformes pourraient être diffusées de façon généralisée à un large éventail d'individus, mais la plupart d'entre elles ont besoin d'une vérification empirique complémentaire. Cet article analyse quelques stratégies d'adaptation comportementale dont le but est d'améliorer l'observance médicamenteuse et d'autres résultats fonctionnels chez les individus atteints de maladie mentale grave.

Low Anti-Müllerian Hormone in Pediatric Cancer Survivors in the Early Years after Gonadotoxic Therapy.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To obtain anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels in female childhood cancer survivors and determine the association of therapeutic exposures with diminished ovarian reserve (DOR). DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Academic medical center. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-nine survivors (mean age = 14.9 years, SD = 3.3 years; mean time without therapy = 7.5 years, SD = 3.6 years) who received alkylator/heavy metal chemotherapy, and/or radiation exposure to the ovaries with 2 or more years without therapy were recruited. INTERVENTIONS: None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: AMH, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels (random), and therapeutic characteristics such as cyclophosphamide equivalent dose (CED), heavy metal exposure, and bilateral ovarian radiation exposure were determined for each subject. DOR was defined as a low AMH (less than the fifth percentile for age-matched controls), and premature ovarian insufficiency as an FSH greater than 40 IU/L with AMH less than the fifth percentile. RESULTS: Fourteen subjects (28.6%) had DOR, and 5 (10.2%) had premature ovarian insufficiency. Those with a low AMH were more likely exposed to a higher CED (P = .001) and/or bilateral ovarian radiation exposure (P = .048). In the multivariate model of DOR adjusted for age at diagnosis, DOR was associated with bilateral radiation (odds ratio = 39.9; 95% confidence interval 2.1-759.7; P = .04). There was a nonsignificant trend with increasing odds of low AMH with increased CED. CONCLUSION: DOR, defined by an AMH less than the fifth percentile, was observed in more than one-quarter of pediatric cancer survivors exposed to gonadotoxic cancer therapy and was significantly associated with bilateral ovarian irradiation. Identifying risk factors for low AMH prompts AMH and FSH surveillance in the early years after cancer therapy and, if needed, early referral to a reproductive specialist.