Health-Related Quality of Life among Paediatric Survivors of Primary Brain Tumours and Acute Leukaemia

• Published in: Quality of life research Vol. 19; no. 2; pp. 191 - 198
• Main Authors: Pogorzala, Monika, Styczynski, Jan, Kurylak, Andrzej, Debski, Robert, Wojtkiewicz, Magdalena, Wysocki, Mariusz
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01.03.2010; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Age; Age Factors; Bleeding time; Brain cancer; Brain neoplasms; Brain research; Cancer; Cancer therapies; Central nervous system; Central Nervous System Neoplasms - mortality; Central Nervous System Neoplasms - psychology; Chemotherapy; Child; Children; Data Collection; Female; Health Status; Hematology; Humans; Leukemia; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute - mortality; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute - psychology; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Neoplasia; Oncology; Pediatrics; Policy and Applications; Population; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma - mortality; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma - psychology; Psychometrics; Public Health; Quality of life; Quality of Life - psychology; Quality of Life Research; Questionnaires; Radiation therapy; Radiotherapy; Remission (Medicine); Schools; Self evaluation; Sex Factors; Sickness Impact Profile; Slavic languages; Sociology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Survivor; Survivors - psychology; Tumors; Young Adult; Health-related quality of life; PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core; Brain tumour; Children; Acute leukaemia
• ISSN: 0962-9343; 1573-2649
• DOI: 10.1007/s11136-009-9580-1

Purpose Comparative assessment of the HRQL of paediatric survivors of brain tumours (BT) and of acute leukaemia against a population of their healthy peers. Methods The study consisted of patients who had completed treatment for BT (n=36) or acute leukaemia (n=35) and were aged between 8 and 19. Healthy children (n=60) were selected from among pupils of schools. HRQL was evaluated directly and indirectly on the basis of the Polish language version of the $PedsQL^{TM} 4.$ Generic Core Scales. The influence of selected factors (sex, age, time from the end of treatment and type of treatment on the HRQL result was analysed. Results In all the aspects analysed (total, physical, psychosocial, emotional, social and school functioning), the HRQL of BT and leukaemia survivors was significantly lower than that of the survivors of leukaemia. The parent-proxy reported HRQL was consistent with the children's self-assessment. Patients treated with radiotherapy presented a significantly lower evaluation of life quality in the physical sphere. Conclusions Evaluation of HRQL should be treated as an additional independent parameter in an assessment of the long-term results of oncological treatment.