Pediatric quality of life in long-term survivors of childhood cancer treated with anthracyclines.
BACKGROUND
Anthracyclines are a common class of drugs used to treat pediatric cancer. While much attention is given to their cardiotoxicity, little is known about the relationship between the use of anthracyclines and health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) outcomes. This study examines the association of anthracycline cardiotoxicity risk status and Pediatric Quality-of-Life (PedsQL) InventoryTM scores in childhood cancer METHODS: Pediatric cancer survivors aged 8-21 who were at least 5 years posttreatment were recruited from a Cancer Survivor Clinic. Participants completed the PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales and a health behavior survey. Linear regression was used to evaluate the association between PedsQL scores and anthracycline cardiotoxicity risk status and to assess whether self-reported physical activity modified the association.


RESULTS
Eighty survivors participated and were characterized by cardiotoxicity risk status (high: 12; moderate: 23, low: 24, no risk: 21) as defined by the Children's Oncology Group (COG). Measures in all PedsQL domains tended to be slightly lower for survivors exposed to anthracyclines as compared to the unexposed. The largest difference in unadjusted mean scores was for social functioning (96.0% for unexposed vs. 91.3% for exposed, P = 0.0068). There was also an inverse dose-response relation between adjusted PedsQL scores and increasing anthracycline cardiotoxicity risk; this association was not modified by physical activity level.


CONCLUSION
These data indicate that regular psychosocial assessments, such as those currently recommended by the COG, may be especially important for survivors treated with anthracyclines.
['Ryerson|A Blythe|AB|', 'Wasilewski-Masker|Karen|K|', 'Border|William L|WL|', 'Goodman|Michael|M|', 'Meacham|Lillian|L|', 'Austin|Harland|H|', 'Marchak|Jordan Gilleland|JG|', 'Mertens|Ann C|AC|']
D000293:Adolescent D018943:Anthracyclines D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic D066126:Cardiotoxicity D002648:Child D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug D005260:Female D006801:Humans D016014:Linear Models D008297:Male D009369:Neoplasms D011788:Quality of Life D017741:Survivors D055815:Young Adult
quality of life anthracyclines pediatric cancer survivors oncology