Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Apr;61(4):729-36.
doi: 10.1002/pbc.24881. Epub 2013 Nov 27.

Health conditions and quality of life in survivors of childhood acute myeloid leukemia comparing post remission chemotherapy to BMT: a report from the children's oncology group

Kris Ann P Schultz  1 , Lu Chen, Zhengjia Chen, Toana Kawashima, Kevin C Oeffinger, William G Woods, H Stacy Nicholson, Joseph P Neglia
Affiliations

Health conditions and quality of life in survivors of childhood acute myeloid leukemia comparing post remission chemotherapy to BMT: a report from the children's oncology group

Kris Ann P Schultz et al. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2014 Apr.

Abstract

Background: Therapy for childhood acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has historically included chemotherapy with or without autologous bone marrow transplant (autoBMT) or allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloBMT). We sought to compare health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL) outcomes between these treatment groups.

Procedure: Five-year survivors of AML diagnosed before age 21 and enrolled and treated from 1979 to 1995 on one of 4 national protocols were interviewed. These survivors or proxy caregivers completed a health questionnaire and an HRQOL measure.

Results: Of 180 survivors, 100 were treated with chemotherapy only, 26 with chemotherapy followed by autoBMT, and 54 with chemotherapy followed by alloBMT. Median age at interview was 20 years (range 8-39). Twenty-one percent reported a severe or life-threatening chronic health condition (chemotherapy-only 16% vs. autoBMT 21% vs. alloBMT 33%; P = 0.02 for chemotherapy-only vs. alloBMT). Nearly all (95%) reported excellent, very good or good health. Reports of cancer-related pain and anxiety did not vary between groups. HRQOL scores among 136 participants ≥14 years of age were similar among groups and to the normative population, though alloBMT survivors had a lower physical mean summary score (49.1 alloBMT vs. 52.2 chemotherapy-only; P = 0.03). Multivariate analyses showed the presence of severe chronic health conditions to be a strong predictor of physical but not mental mean summary scores.

Conclusions: Overall HRQOL scores were similar among treatment groups, although survivors reporting more health conditions or cancer-related pain had diminished HRQOL. Attention to chronic health conditions and management of cancer-related pain may improve QOL.

Keywords: acute myeloid leukemia; bone marrow transplantation; chronic health condition; late effects; pediatric; quality of life.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Enrollment and analysis flow
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Redaelli A, Stephens JM, Brandt S, et al. Short- and long-term effects of acute myeloid leukemia on patient health-related quality of life. Cancer Treat Rev. 2004;30:103–117. - PubMed
    1. Nesbit ME, Jr, Woods WG. Therapy of acute myeloid leukemia in children. Leukemia. 1992;6(Suppl 2):31–35. - PubMed
    1. Alonzo TA, Wells RJ, Woods WG, et al. Postremission therapy for children with acute myeloid leukemia: The children's cancer group experience in the transplant era. Leukemia. 2005;19:965–970. - PubMed
    1. Smith FO, Alonzo TA, Gerbing RB, et al. Long-term results of children with acute myeloid leukemia: A report of three consecutive phase III trials by the Children's Cancer Group: CCG 251, CCG 213 and CCG 2891. Leukemia. 2005;19:2054–2062. - PubMed
    1. Hale GA, Tong X, Benaim E, et al. Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in children failing prior autologous bone marrow transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2001;27:155–162. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms