Historically, health‐related quality of life (HRQL) assessment in pediatrics, including the few validated instruments in pediatric oncology, has been based on proxy reporting, relying primarily on parental assessment. Children have been deemed incapable of providing consistent and reliable information about their level of functioning or state of well‐being. Previous studies have been hampered by either limited or poor correlation among the proxy reporters, i.e., teachers, parents and physicians, and in comparisons to disease severity. Simply stated, proxy reporters have greater agreement about what the child can do vs. what the child thinks or feels. Comparisons among proxy reporters have been hindered also by a lack of parallel content in the instruments used, which may result in poorly congruent assessments simply because the instruments measure different constructs. In addition to the measurement issues, the emotional milieu of the parent, particularly the mother, has been shown to influence assessments of the child's functioning. Maternal distress, marital adjustment and health locus of control all co‐vary with reports of the child's behavior. What, then, is the proxy reporter telling us about the child? We conducted a cross‐sectional study of school‐aged pediatric bone marrow transplant (BMT) patients at our institution to evaluate children's self‐reported HRQL and functional status. We formally tested the Child Health Rating Inventories (CHRIs), a recently developed generic health‐status measure, with its companion measure, the Disease Impairment Inventories‐Bone Marrow Transplant (DSII‐BMT). Separate questionnaires were administered to patients, parents and physicians at a scheduled outpatient visit after BMT. The questionnaires were designed to have parallel content. All responses were confidential. The psychometric properties of the CHRIs and DSII‐BMT are reported elsewhere. In brief, the responses of all raters were reliable, based on measurements of internal consistency. The children's self‐reported health status was correlated significantly with the physicians' disease severity rating (DSR) across all generic and disease‐specific domains. In contrast, parental reports of child health status were not correlated significantly with the DSR for disease‐specific problems or the child's pain. Parental ratings deviated most from the children's ratings within the dimensions of mental health and quality of life (p < 0.001). For the entire sample, parental ratings were significantly lower than the children's ratings. Within the subgroup “early after transplant (<6 months)”, parental ratings were significantly lower than the children's self‐reports in all categories. In the subgroup “>12 months after transplant”, with the exception of mental health and quality of life, parental scores were the same as or higher than the children's ratings. Our results confirm previous studies that the parental reporting of children's health status is a complex construct and that valuable information can be elicited dire...

Organs transplanted from bacteremic donors do not transmit bacterial infection or result in poorer outcomes. Use of organs from these donors could help increase organ availability.

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A potential association between human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) following kidney transplantation was explored by retrospectively testing serial serum specimens for HHV-6 IgG and IgM antibody. HHV-6 reactivation occurred in 35 (66%) of 53 transplant recipients. Fungal or parasitic opportunistic infections, graft rejection or loss, and mortality were not associated with HHV-6 reactivation. HHV-6 reactivation was associated with primary CMV infection (P=.001) and CMV syndrome (P=.003) and with trends for CMV-related hepatitis (P=.095), CMV-related neutropenia (P=.104), and serious CMV disease (P=.085). After controlling for CMV immune globulin (CMVIG) prophylaxis, the association between HHV-6 reactivation and primary CMV infection and syndrome remained significant (P=.002 and 0.006, respectively). The reduction in CMV syndrome among those receiving CMVIG prophylaxis remained significant (P=.007) after controlling for HHV-6 reactivation. HHV-6 reactivation in kidney transplant recipients at risk for primary CMV infection is associated with CMV infection and CMV-related disease, and these effects are independent of CMVIG prophylaxis.

Skin cancer is a well-recognized long-term complication of transplantation and immunosuppression. Although risk factors for the development of skin cancer in the general population are well defined, risk factors for the development of these lesions have not been identified clearly in the liver transplant population. We surveyed 151 liver transplant (LTx) recipients for risk factors associated with cutaneous malignancies in the general population. Variables included were: demographics, primary liver disease, severity of disease at LTx, immunosuppression history, complexion, hair color, eye color, tanning profile, number of moles, occupational history, sun exposure history, sunburn history, family history of skin cancer, and any history of removed skin lesions. All skin cancers were confirmed histologically. There were 86 documented skin cancers in 34 patients: 56 squamous cell, 23 basal cell and 7 melanomas. Median follow-up was 1490 days. In a univariate analysis, age, male gender, red hair, brown eyes, primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), primary biliary cirrhosis (protective), cyclosporine, number of second degree sunburns, and frequent lifetime sun exposure were associated with the development of new skin cancers. In a multivariate model, age, male gender, red hair, brown eyes, PSC, and cyclosporine remain the strongest predictors. The incidence of skin cancer after liver transplantation is underestimated. In particular, there is a higher incidence of squamous cell carcinoma compared with the general population. Recipients with identified risk factors may be candidates for prophylactic treatment and should be followed more intensively after liver transplantation. (Liver TranspZ2002;8:939-944.) T he incide,nce of skin cancer in the general population continues to rise, with more than 1.3 million cases of nonmelanoma skin cancer expected to occur in the United States alone this year.l Risk factors for skin cancer in the general population are well known and include exposure to ultraviolet radiation, sun exposure during childhood, a history of second degree sunburns, the tendency to sunburn easily, fair complexion, blonde or red hair, blue or hazel eyes, occupational exposure, and outdoor Skin cancer is the most common malignancy occurring after solid organ transplantation, with the incidence as high as 35% to 70% at 20 years in parts of the world in which sun exposure is more common.3 The incidence after liver transplantation (LTx) specifically has been reported at 1.6% to 2.2?40415 in two studies with a mean follow-up ranging between 35 and 77.8 months, but there are few published reports, and the length of follow-up in these studies is limited compared with the extensive longterm data in renal transplant patients. In addition, these studies often rely on retrospectively collected singlecenter data or composite registry data, information that patients may not provide spontaneously without specific direct questioning. Although skin cancer is a wellrecognized long-term complication of transplantation and immuno...

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Infections remain common life-threatening complications of bone marrow transplantation. To examine clinical factors that affect infection risk, we retrospectively studied patients who received bone marrow transplants (53 autologous and 51 allogeneic). Over a median of 27 hospital days, 44 patients developed documented infections. Both autologous transplantation and hematopoietic growth factor use were associated with less prolonged neutropenia and decreased occurrence of infection (P < or = .05). In a survival regression model, variables independently associated with infection risk were the log10 of the neutrophil count (hazard ratio [HR], 0.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.32-0.75), ciprofloxacin prophylaxis (HR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.19-0.95), empirical intravenous antibiotic use (HR, 0.09; 95% CI, 0.03-0.32), and an interaction between neutrophil count and intravenous antibiotic use (HR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.06-3.29). In this model, infection risk increases steeply at low neutrophil counts for patients receiving no antibiotic therapy. Ciprofloxacin prophylaxis and particularly intravenous antibiotic therapy provide substantial protection at low neutrophil counts. These results can be used to model management strategies for transplant recipients.

results suggest that the CHRIs generic core and its DSII-HSCT module is a promising measure of HRQL after pediatric HSCT. Although parent and child reports were moderately correlated and revealed complementary results, the unique perspectives of both raters provide a more complete picture of HRQL. Longitudinal application is underway to further characterize the measurement properties of the CHRIs and to determine the instrument's responsiveness and sensitivity to change over time in this vulnerable population.