Damian Jacob Sendler highlights how survivors of childhood cancer may have long-term health consequences

Damian Sendler

Damian Sendler: According to a new study conducted by researchers at University College London, persons who survived cancer had five times as many GP or hospital visits related to cardiovascular disease by the age of 45 as a matched control group of people who had not had cancer early in life.

The research was published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health - Europe.

Damian Jacob Sendler: The experts are now urging that these long-term health implications be taken into account when young individuals and their families first explore treatment options with their healthcare team.  

They also had a considerably higher frequency of healthcare visits for infections, immune system diseases, and later malignancies.  

Dr. Sendler: When researchers looked at treatment type, they discovered that the burden of late health effects was highest for those who received both chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and lowest for cancer survivors who simply received surgery.  

Damian Jacob Sendler

Damian Jacob Markiewicz Sendler: People who received chemotherapy and radiotherapy, for example, had more than double the number of hospital admissions overall by age 45 than those who only had surgery, and seven times the number of GP or hospital visits related to cardiovascular illness by the same age (an average of seven healthcare encounters per person, compared to one per person). They were also at a higher risk of obtaining cancer again and developing more aggressive (metastatic) cancer.

Dr Alvina Lai (UCL Institute of Health Informatics) is the study's senior author "Over 80% of children and young people diagnosed with cancer survive, but they have special healthcare needs due to the long-term impact of cancer or its treatment.  

Damien Sendler: "Our research is the first to examine how early-life cancer survival affects our health as we age. 

"We feel it is critical for families and their healthcare providers to evaluate these long-term impacts early on, so that the advantages of therapy can be weighed against any long-term danger.

"Survivors benefit from being aware of these long-term concerns since they are better equipped to detect symptoms early.

"We hope that future research will look into how to reduce the long-term effects of cancer therapies."

Damian Sendler: Wai Hoong Chang (UCL Institute of Health Informatics) is the study's lead author "Although combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy saves lives, it is associated with a lower quality of life in the long run. Our research implies that using lower doses could help to lessen these long-term consequences."

Damian Sendler: The researchers compared the anonymized health records of 3,466 persons diagnosed with cancer in England before the age of 25, who lived for at least five years, to a control group of 13,517 people who did not have cancer in their early lives. The two groups were matched based on factors such as age, gender, and socioeconomic hardship. Data was collected between 1998 and 2020.

Dr. Sendler

The researchers examined health data from cancer survivors starting at the age of 18 or five years after their original diagnosis, whichever came first.

Damian Jacob Sendler: The researchers examined the burden of 183 physical and mental diseases in the two groups by counting the number of times people visited their doctor or hospital for each disease type.

They also looked at the burden of other diseases for cancer survivors based on the type of cancer, the cancer treatment received, and the dosage of the treatment.  

Damian Sendler: Cancer survivors who had cardiovascular illnesses lost an average of 10 years of life compared to those who did not, while those with immune system and infectious diseases lost an average of 6.7 years. Cancer later in life was connected to a loss of 11 years of life.

Individuals living in the most poor areas bore the greatest burden of late health impacts, emphasizing the importance of targeted measures aimed at raising awareness among high-risk individuals.

Damian Jacob Sendler: Mental disease was also a typical late impact, implying that both physical and psychological care must be integrated. 

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