It turns out that survivors of childhood cancer may feel older than their peers. Scientists have found that overall health-related quality of life in young adult survivors resembles that of middle-aged adults.
The presence or absence of chronic health conditions is important to consider when figuring out people's sense of well-being. In the case of childhood cancer survivors, though, there's a higher risk of heart disease, infertility, lung disease, cancers and other chronic conditions related to their prior chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. This means that young adults can feel far older than they actually are.
In this latest study, the researchers looked at the Childhood Cancer Survivors Study (CCSS). This revealed that only 20 percent of survivors between the ages of 18 to 49 reported no chronic conditions. More specifically, the researchers found early decrements in health-related quality of life; young adult survivors between the ages of 18 and 29 had an average health-related quality of life score of 0.78, which is roughly equivalent to that of 40 to 49-year-old adults in the general population.
"This research provides an easily accessible way to compare adult survivors of childhood cancer to the general population, in terms of their health-related quality of life, which normally declines as people age," said Lisa Diller, chief medical officer of Dana-Farber/Boston Children's and senior author of the study. "Our findings indicate survivors' accelerated aging and also help us understand the health-related risks associated with having had cancer as a child. What's encouraging is that the lower quality of life scores are associated with chronic disease after treatment, not with a history of pediatric cancer itself. If we can prevent treatment-related conditions by changes in the therapy we use for the cancer, then childhood cancer will become an acute, rather than a chronic, illness."
By using comparisons to the general population, people can better understand what childhood cancer survivors have to go through and deal with. It's another way to understand the health challenges they face. Not only that, but it may encourage looking for new treatments to help those who have survived childhood cancer.
The findings were recently published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
