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Cancer-specific health-related quality of life in children with brain tumors

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Abstract

Purpose

To understand the influence of disease and treatment on the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of children with brain tumors, compared to the HRQOL of children with other cancers, from the viewpoints of children and parents.

Methods

A total of 133 children aged 5–18 years and 165 parents of children aged 2–18 completed questionnaires of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Cancer Module (Pain and Hurt, Nausea, Procedural Anxiety, Treatment Anxiety, Worry, Cognitive Problems, Perceived Physical Appearance, and Communication scales); higher scores indicate a better HRQOL. The Cancer Module scores, weighted by age and treatment status, were compared to those obtained in a previous study of children with other cancers (mostly leukemia).

Results

The weighted mean scores for Pain and Hurt (effect size d = 0.26) and Nausea (d = 0.23) from child reports and the scores for Nausea (d = 0.28) from parent reports were higher for children with brain tumors than scores for children with other cancers. The scores for Procedural Anxiety (d = −0.22) and Treatment Anxiety (d = −0.32) from parent reports were lower for parents of children with brain tumors than the scores for parents of children with other cancers. The child-reported Pain and Hurt score of the Cancer Module was higher (d = 0.29) and in less agreement (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.43) with scores from the Brain Tumor Module, indicating that assessments completed with the Cancer Module misesteem pain and hurt problems in children with brain tumors.

Conclusions

The profiles of cancer-specific HRQOL in children with brain tumors differ from those of children with other cancers; we therefore suggest that these children receive specific psychological support.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Pediatric Cancer Treatment and Research from the CCAJ 2008 and a Grant-in-Aid for Cancer Research from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan (No. 18-14) 2008.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Graduate School of Health Sciences and Nursing, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    Iori Sato, Akiko Higuchi & Kiyoko Kamibeppu

  2. Children’s Cancer Association of Japan, 1-3-12 Asakusabashi, Taito-ku, Tokyo, 111-0053, Japan

    Akiko Higuchi

  3. Division of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology, Department of Neuro-Oncology/Neurosurgery, Comprehensive Cancer Center, International Medical Center, Saitama Medical University, 1397-1 Yamane, Hidaka-shi, Saitama, 350-1298, Japan

    Takaaki Yanagisawa

  4. Department of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8655, Japan

    Akitake Mukasa & Nobuhito Saito

  5. Department of Pediatrics, Teikyo University Mizonokuchi Hospital, 3-8-3 Mizonokuchi, Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa, 213-8507, Japan

    Kohmei Ida

  6. Sawamura Neurosurgery Clinic, North-7, West-5, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-0807, Japan

    Yutaka Sawamura

  7. Department of Clinical Oncology & Neuro-oncology Program, Hiroshima University Hospital, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minamiku, Hiroshima, 734-8551, Japan

    Kazuhiko Sugiyama

  8. Department of Neurosurgery, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8574, Japan

    Toshihiro Kumabe

  9. Department of Neurosurgery, Kurume University School of Medicine, Asahimachi 67, Kurume-shi, Fukuoka, 980-8574, Japan

    Mizuhiko Terasaki

  10. Department of Neuro-Oncology/Neurosurgery, Comprehensive Cancer Center, International Medical Center, Saitama Medical University, 1397-1 Yamane, Hidaka-shi, Saitama, 350-1298, Japan

    Ryo Nishikawa

  11. Center for Child Health, Ehime Prefectural Central Hospital, 83 Kasuga-machi, Matsuyama, Ehime, 790-0024, Japan

    Yasushi Ishida

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  1. Iori Sato
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  2. Akiko Higuchi
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  3. Takaaki Yanagisawa
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  4. Akitake Mukasa
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Correspondence to Kiyoko Kamibeppu.

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Sato, I., Higuchi, A., Yanagisawa, T. et al. Cancer-specific health-related quality of life in children with brain tumors. Qual Life Res 23, 1059–1068 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-013-0555-x

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