Impact of Demographics on Severity of Late Effects and Survivorship Clinic Attendance in Young Adult Childhood Cancer Survivors Open Access
Shah, Meera Mehul (2017)
Abstract
Abstract
Impact of Demographics on Severity of Late Effects and Survivorship Clinic Attendance in Young Adult Childhood Cancer Survivors
By Meera Shah
Background: With the advent of improving cancer therapies, there has been a significant increase in numbers of childhood cancer survivors. From 1975 to 2010, five year survival rate increased from 50 to 80% for cancer diagnosed before age 20. Late effects are cancer related sequelae that develop five years or more after cancer therapy. Forty percent of them had a serious health problem as young adults, thus it is of utmost important that these effects are monitored in survivors as part of their overall healthcare annually.
Methods: One hundred twenty childhood cancer survivors age 21-30 were recruited at Emory's Survivorship Clinic. Each patient was consented and given a survey document with questions regarding demographics as well as patient knowledge. Chi-square analysis was completed with 93 patients who had complete survey and healthcare record data, to explore relationships between various variables including demographics, severity of late effects and adherence to survivorship clinic.
Results: 76% of the population was white, 91% had late effects. Lastly, patients who identified that their cancer therapy could cause future health problems were more likely to have severe late effects than those who were not aware of the potential late effects (p=0.0509). Patients who were currently employed had significantly better clinic adherence than those who were not employed (p=0.0364). Patients who had attained a higher level of education were more likely to have attended clinic for a longer period of time (p=0.0013).
Conclusion: Cancer survivorship clinic is important in identifying and screening for late effects in cancer therapy given that 91% of patients experience late effects. The severity of these late effects is not significantly modified by demographic factors, although patients with higher maternal education level and understanding that cancer treatment could cause future problems tended towards less severe late effects.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Background........................................................................................................................................................1
Specific Aims ...................................................................................................................................................... 3
Methods.............................................................................................................................................................3
Results...............................................................................................................................................................7
Discussion..........................................................................................................................................................9
Limitations........................................................................................................................................................14
Conclusions and Future Directions........................................................................................................................14
References........................................................................................................................................................15
Tables..............................................................................................................................................................18
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