Quality of life of adolescent and adult survivors of childhood cancer in Europe-A systematic review.

Advances in diagnostics and treatment of childhood cancer during the past few decades have substantially increased survival, resulting in a growing population of survivors of childhood cancer. Somatic and mental late effects of the cancer and the treatment may impact the quality of life (QoL). Previous reviews of QoL in survivors of childhood cancer have shown contradictory findings across studies and the majority of studies included have been based on data from North America and may not be directly comparable to a European setting. The aim of our study was to critically evaluate and summarise the latest evidence on the QoL of childhood cancer survivors in Europe and to identify survivors at particular risk. The eligible studies were published between 2008 and 2022, conducted in Europe and included participants who had survived at least 5 years after diagnosis of a childhood cancer. The main outcome of interest was QoL of survivors which was measured with validated qualitative and quantitative QoL questionnaires. A systematic literature search conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO and CINALH resulted in inclusion of 36 articles with a total of 14 342 survivors of childhood cancer. The majority of included studies found that childhood cancer survivors reported poorer QoL than comparisons. Female gender, treatment with haematopoietic stem cell transplantation and a brain tumour diagnosis were associated with lower QoL. With a growing population of childhood cancer survivors with many years ahead of them, targeted interventions and optimal follow-up care are important to improve the QoL of survivors.

Hospital differences in mortality rates after hip fracture surgery in Denmark.

BACKGROUND: Thirty-day mortality after hip fracture is widely used when ranking hospital performance, but the reliability of such hospital ranking is seldom calculated. We aimed to quantify the variation in 30-day mortality across hospitals and to determine the hospital general contextual effect for understanding patient differences in 30-day mortality risk. METHODS: Patients aged ≥65 years with an incident hip fracture registered in the Danish Multidisciplinary Fracture Registry between 2007 and 2016 were identified (n=60,004). We estimated unadjusted and patient-mix adjusted risk of 30-day mortality in 32 hospitals. We performed a multilevel analysis of individual heterogeneity and discriminatory accuracy with patients nested within hospitals. We expressed the hospital general contextual effect by the median odds ratio (MOR), the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve and the variance partition coefficient (VPC). RESULTS: The overall 30-day mortality rate was 10%. Patient characteristics including high sociodemographic risk score, underweight, comorbidity, a subtrochanteric fracture, and living at a nursing home were strong predictors of 30-day mortality (area under the curve=0.728). The adjusted differences between hospital averages in 30-day mortality varied from 5% to 9% across the 32 hospitals, which correspond to a MOR of 1.18 (95% CI: 1.12-1.25). However, the hospital general context effect was low, as the VPC was below 1% and adding the hospital level to a single-level model with adjustment for patient-mix increased the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve by only 0.004 units. CONCLUSIONS: Only minor hospital differences were found in 30-day mortality after hip fracture. Mortality after hip fracture needs to be lowered in Denmark but possible interventions should be patient oriented and universal rather than focused on specific hospitals.

The Gold Standard Programme: smoking cessation interventions for disadvantaged smokers are effective in a real-life setting.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the real-life effect of an evidence-based Gold Standard Programme (GSP) for smoking cessation interventions in disadvantaged patients and to identify modifiable factors that consistently produce the highest abstinence rates. DESIGN: Observational prospective cohort study. SETTING: GSPs in pharmacies, hospitals and communities in Denmark, reporting to the national Smoking Cessation Database. PARTICIPANTS: Disadvantaged patients, defined as patients with a lower level of education and those receiving unemployment benefits. INTERVENTIONS: 6-week manualised GSP smoking cessation interventions performed by certified staff. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: 6 months of continuous abstinence, response rate: 80%. RESULTS: Continuous abstinence of the 16 377 responders was 34% (of all 20 588 smokers: 27%). Continuous abstinence was lower in 5738 smokers with a lower educational level (30% of responders and 23% of all) and in 840 unemployed (27% of responders and 19% of all). In respect to modifiable factors, continuous abstinence was found more often after programmes in one-on-one formats (vs group formats) among patients with a lower educational level, 34% (vs 25%, p=0.037), or among unemployed, 35% (vs 24%, p=0.099). The variable 'format' stayed in the final model of multivariable analyses in patients with a lower educational level, OR=1.31 (95% CI 1.05 to 1.63). CONCLUSIONS: Although continuous abstinence was lower among disadvantaged smokers, the absolute difference was small. If the programme had been as effective in disadvantaged as in non-disadvantaged groups, there would have been an extra 46 or 8 quitters annually, respectively. Promoting individual interventions among those with a low education may increase the effectiveness of GSP.