Assessment of quality of life of children and adolescents with cancer during their treatment

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of life of children and adolescents with any type of cancer in all phases of their treatment. Methods: Fifty-six newly diagnosed patients diagnosed with malignancy and hospitalized in a Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Unit in Athens were included in the study. Minneapolis-Manchester Quality of Life Instrument was used for data collection from July 2010 to December 2012. The assessment of children and adolescents' quality of life who were under treatment was performed in three different stages of treatment. Results: The results of the study showed that the quality of life of children and adolescents with cancer did not change notably during their treatment (F = 0.16, P = 0.86 and F = 0.03, P = 0.97). For the first measurement, at the beginning of the therapy, the score on the scale for quality of life for children and adolescents was 3.44 and 3.88, respectively, in the middle of the treatment 3.36 and 3.89, respectively, and 3.43 and 3.89, respectively, when therapy was completed. Children and adolescents diagnosed with hematologic cancer stated higher quality of life scores (z = −1.61, P = 0.05 and t = 2.64, P = 0.007). Moreover, teenage patients (F = 13.22, P = 0.001) and male patients (t = 2.31, P = 0.02 and t = 2.27, P = 0.02) expressed better quality-of-life scores. Conclusion: According to the results, children and adolescents with any kind of cancer have better quality-of-life scores at the end of their treatment, and when they are supported by their family.

Sociodemographic Factors and Quality of Life in Children and Adolescents under Cancer Treatment

“…These results differ from other research that reported that adolescents have better QOL, mainly in the physical, psychological and future perspective dimensions, while children only scored better in physical symptoms, where apparently are less affected by the disease symptoms than the adolescents, especially in pain (Vlachioti et al, 2016). Other study found results similar to our research findings, observing a greater affectation of QOL in adolescents, particularly in physical functionality (Smith et al, 2013).…”

“…Other studies have found differences by gender in the reverse direction, observing that males presented better QOL in dimensions such as physical and cognitive functions, while the females reported better QOL in the social function dimension. This same study points out that, females present higher level of depression because of the greater influence that physical changes have in them (Vlachioti et al, 2016). Regarding the differences by school level, our results showed differences in the global analysis for the school dimension, where the patients evaluated QOL less favorable as the school level increased.…”

“…As the World Health Organization suggested, it is important to evaluate the QOF in children and adolescents with cancer, in order to be able to intervene opportunely in areas affected by a cancer diagnosis (Vlachioti et al, 2016). It is necessary to increase the studies about the effectivity of socioemotional interventions in children and adolescents with cancer and their families (Kazak, 2005), considering that there are only few scientific papers about it (Fedele et al, 2013;Marsland et al, 2013;Mehranfar, Younesi, & Banihashem, 2012;Wakefield et al, 2015).…”

“…Several research have identified some variables that influence the QOL of children and adolescents with cancer, such as age, gender, diagnosis and type of treatment, referring that the first six months after the diagnosis represent a period of major affectations (Vlachioti et al, 2016). Despite the impact that a cancer diagnosis can have for a pediatric patient, it is difficult to develop research with this population, because they are young and feel physically sick, not wanting to participate in studies, conditioning the information gathering to other sources, such as the parents (Llantá-AbreuI, Grau-AbaloII, & VeaIII, 2014).…”

Health‐related quality of life of Brazilian children and adolescents with benign and malignant solid tumours: A prospective cohort study during the first year after hospital admission

“…These dimensions had lower values in other studies as well(Ji et al, 2011;Scarpelli et al, 2008;Varni et al, 2002).Some authors described the HRQOL of the female gender to be worse as compared to the men, which was mainly due to body image modifications that would affect girls more(Klassen et al, 2011;Meeske, Katz, Palmer, Burwinkle, & Varni, 2004;Mounir & Abolfotouh, 2007;Shankar et al, 2005;Vlachioti et al, 2016). Varni et al (2002) had observed the worst scores in Scholar Functioning scale, while in our study, the Emotional Functioning scale had the lower scores.In the specific module PesdQL™ 3.0, patients had worse scores in Worry and Procedural Anxiety subscales.…”