Quality of Life in Pediatric Cancer Patients

Abstract

Background: In recent years the survival rates for children diagnosed with cancer has increased as result of successful treatment. Evaluation of health related quality of life during the process of treatments is important for recognition of acute dysfunction related to therapy and disease.
 Aim: Aim of the study is to identify the health-related quality of life in pediatric cancer patients and to detect the potential predictors of a total quality of life and its domains.
 Materials and Methods: It is a cross-sectional study done on convenient sample of pediatric cancer patients. Their diagnosis was confirmed at pediatric hematology clinic and day care unit at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
 Results: A total number of 51 children participated in this study, their age ranging from 8-15 years with mean 10.15± 2.52. Hematological malignancies represented 70.5% of the sample, with the highest percentage for acute lymphocytic leukemia (45%). The mean value of the total quality of life is 73.48, which is referred to as a good quality of life. The best scores of subscales were cognitive problems (92.54), communication (82.67), and nausea (76.86), otherwise poorer score was detected. Although the value of total quality of life was relatively good however visiting the hospital more than 3 times per month, male gender, duration of therapy and duration of diagnosis more associated with more pain and hurt, great worry and treatment anxiety.
 Conclusion: Higher frequency of hospital visits, male gender, longer duration of diagnosis, longer duration of therapy, and increased intensity of therapy were all associated with more pain and hurt, great worry, nausea, and treatment anxiety which reflect a poor quality of life among the study group.

Assessment of Health-related Quality of Life in Saudi Children with Cancer

“…Using a large all-Saudi cohort and a wider range of ages, our data was able to confirm the results of Hegazy et al 16 regarding total HRQOL. In addition, we explain and discuss simple ways to improve QOL based on the results of our study.…”

“…Our use of the parent proxy report PedsQL™ 3.0 cancer module is similar to a previous study from Saudi Arabia that obtained a total HRQOL of 72.3 for pediatric cancer patients, which was one of the of highest scores in the world (Table 4). [12][13][14][15][16] Of the 8 subscales, communication and procedural anxiety had the highest and lowest scores, respectively (Table 2). Similar to our data, other studies reported most frequent high scores for the communication subscale and most frequent low scores for procedural anxiety (Table 4), emphasizing the importance of these 2 subscales.…”

“…Disease and treatment-related physical appearance changes, such as hair loss, weight gain or loss, skin changes, and physical disfigurement have been shown to have a negative impact on QOL in children with cancer. 13,16,19 Adverse effects of cancer treatment on physical appearance are expected to be more stressful and recognizable in older patients since they are more careful about their appearance. Many children with cancer have expressed themselves by showing hair loss or incomplete body parts in their drawings.…”

“…Our use of the parent proxy report PedsQL™ 3.0 cancer module is similar to a previous study from Saudi Arabia that obtained a total HRQOL of 72.3 for pediatric cancer patients, which was one of the of highest scores in the world (Table 4). 12-16…”

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Health-Related Quality of Life and Anxiety in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Patients: A Single Egyptian Center Experience

“…Additionally, the decrease in their emotional functioning can be explained by the cultural difference in gender roles, as in Arabic culture, males -even children -are expected not to express emotions during stressful times and are expected to take more responsibility, which can eventually lead to psychological distress. This was conforming with a study conducted by Hegazy et al (35) who found that males experience more pain than females and a study by Liang et al (29) who found that men scored higher than women on the negative coping scales. On the other hand, a study done in Egypt found lower quality of life in female gender among children with cancer.…”