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Purpose As pediatric cancer survival rates have exponentially increased in the past decade, with the vast majority surviving five years or more, the long-term impacts of treatment on the quality of survivorship must be explored. This study examines the effects of pediatric cancer treatment regimens on education outcomes among a demographically diverse regional population. The primary objective is to identify potential factors that may impact the educational and cognitive quality of life in this population. Methods Four hundred sixty-eight pediatric oncology patients diagnosed at age <20 between January 1990 - August 2019 and treated for cancer with radiation therapy at a large public or a multi-center private hospital in South Florida were identified. A novel survey available in English and Spanish was electronically distributed at least three times to each patient from August 2020 - July 2021 via email, phone call, and text message. Variables relating to demographics, treatment, cognitive impairment, and school re-entry were collected through the survey and electronic medical record review. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed. Results Of the patients, 10.5% responded to the survey (26 male, 21 female, two unidentified sex). The mean age was 8.9 years old (range 0-20) at diagnosis, 24.0 years old (range 8-39) at the time of survey completion, and 55.1% self-identified as Hispanic. Nearly one-quarter of respondents (22.4%) were unable to correctly identify the treatment modalities they received; Hispanic self-identifying patients were 1.75 times more likely than non-Hispanic patients to incorrectly report the treatment modalities received. One-quarter (26.5%) of respondents reported long-term cognitive deficits post-treatment, of which, over three-quarters (76.9%) identified as Hispanic. Conclusion This study illuminates patients' perspectives on their long-term cognitive impacts after pediatric cancer treatment. Given the diverse study population, ethnic disparities in post-treatment survivorship were explored. A substantial subset of Hispanic participants was unable to correctly identify their treatment regimen, and a disproportionately large group of Hispanic patients experienced cognitive long-term cognitive deficits, suggesting that ethnic disparities play a critical role in post-treatment survivorship. Further research on prioritizing educational intervention during and after treatment is essential to improving both the quality and equity of survivorship among pediatric oncology patients.
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OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the impact of pediatric malignancies on quality of life (QOL) and psychological status of parents and to correlate it with well-matched controls and socioeconomic status. METHODS: A prospective comparative cross-sectional study was conducted. Seventy parents of children diagnosed with pediatric malignancies within the last three months were enrolled in the study group (SG) and 50 matched parents of healthy children as the control group (CG). Assessment was done by WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire, Depression Anxiety Stress Score (DASS) scale and Kuppuswamy scale. Data analysis was done by using Statistical Package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. p value <0.05 considered as significant. RESULTS: Mean score of QOL for SG in physical health domain (D1), psychological health (D2), social relationships (D3) and environment health (D4) was 48.64, 43.07, 47.36, and 40.58 respectively whereas that of CG was 79.38, 76.32, 80.58 and 72.86 respectively and the difference was statistically significant (p value <0.001). The environmental domain (D4) had the lowest mean score amongst all domains in the SG. QOL was maximally affected by the parameter sleep, depression, personal relationship and lack of information in the respective domains. Mean depression, anxiety and stress score of SG was 23.43, 20.33, 23.56 respectively whereas that of the CG was 7.1, 8.06 and 8.54 respectively and this was statistically significant (p value <0.001). The QOL of SG in D1 for the lower socioeconomic class was 48.86 and for the upper class was 63 and this difference was statistically significant (p value <0.015). Similarly in D2 and D4 the QOL scores went higher with the socioeconomic class and this was statistically significant (p value < 0.007 and p value <0.030 respectively). CONCLUSIONS: SG had poorer QOL and were significantly more depressed, anxious and stressed. It is concluded that effective interventions are needed to aid these families to improve outcomes by delivering the benefit of vastly improved therapeutic strategies in this field.