Study points to long-term health problems for pediatric cancer...( DALLAS Sept. 24 2003 Nearly half of ...),Health

The study, which appears in today's issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, also found that women are 40 percent more likely than men to suffer long-term problems.

Dr. Kevin Oeffinger, professor of pediatrics and family practice and community medicine at UT Southwestern and senior author of the multicenter Childhood Cancer Survivor Study, said he hopes the findings will lead to implementation of new guidelines for providing health care for pediatric cancer survivors as they grow older.

Survival rates for childhood cancers now exceed 78 percent, resulting in a growing population of long-term survivors, said Dr. Oeffinger. This trend has resulted in a developing recognition in the scientific community of the long-term health consequences of cancer therapy.

"Virtually all organ systems can be affected by radiation, chemotherapy or surgery, leading to a wide array of potential effects later in life," said Dr. Oeffinger, who leads UT Southwestern's After Cancer Experience (ACE) Young Adults Program. "This study tells us that children who survive cancer need to be periodically evaluated for the rest of their lives. We hope physicians become more aware of the risks and are cognizant of the problems survivors face."

The cancer survivors were treated between 1970 and 1986 and were 21 years of age or younger at the time of their diagnosis. Each was diagnosed with one of the eight most common pediatric cancers and survived at least five years after diagnosis.

Health status was assessed in six areas perceived general health, mental health, limitations in activity, impairment in physical functioning, pain following
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Contact: Steve OBrien
Stephen.obrien@utsouthwestern.edu
214-648-3404
UT Southwestern Medical Center
23-Sep-2003