Abstract
BackgroundAdvances in the treatment of childhood brain tumors have significantly improved survival rates. With improved survival rates, long-term treatment-related toxicities have become important, and the resulting complications can affect patients’ emotion and behavior. This study aimed to 1) evaluate behavioral outcomes among survivors of childhood brain tumors, 2) compare behavioral outcomes among survivors of childhood brain tumors with survivors of childhood leukemia and healthy children, and 3) determine any demographic, disease, and/or treatment-related factors that could affect the behavioral outcomes of survivors of childhood brain tumors.MethodsA comparative cross-sectional study was conducted over a period of 1 year (June 1st, 2018–May 31st, 2019) in two tertiary referral centers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Thirty-eight survivors of childhood brain tumors aged 6 to 18 years old who had been off-treatment for at least 1 year and were in remission, 38 age- and gender-matched survivors of childhood leukemia who had been off-treatment for at least 1 year and were in remission, and 38 age- and gender-matched unrelated healthy children were recruited. The Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) parent report and Youth Self-Report (YSR) questionnaires were used to assess behavioral outcomes.ResultsSurvivors of childhood brain tumors showed statistically significantly worse behavioral outcomes than healthy children for social problems and attention problems (p < 0.05, respectively). A significantly worse outcome was found for “social problems” (p < 0.05) in survivors of childhood brain tumors compared to survivors of childhood leukemia. Significant associations were also found between physical disability, visual impairment, education level of survivors, and father’s occupation and behavioral outcomes among survivors of childhood brain tumors.ConclusionsSurvivors of childhood brain tumors in our center showed poor behavioral outcomes for social problems and attention problems. Thus, effective psychosocial support interventions tailored to individual patients as soon as treatment is completed are important to prevent potentially debilitating emotional problems.
Highlights
Advances in the treatment of childhood brain tumors have significantly improved survival rates
Subjects A total of 72 survivors of childhood brain tumors who were still being followed-up were identified from the database
Thirtyeight survivors of childhood brain tumors, 38 age- and gender-matched childhood leukemia survivors, and 38 age- and gender-matched unrelated healthy children were recruited for this study
Summary
Advances in the treatment of childhood brain tumors have significantly improved survival rates. The national incidence of Advances in childhood brain tumor treatment have significantly improved survival; the five-year survival rate was almost 75% with the proportion varying by tumor type [5]. Previous studies reported that survivors of childhood brain tumors were at risk of emotional and behavioral problems such as depression within months of ceasing treatment and returning to the community [4, 6,7,8,9,10]. These behavioral and emotional problems appear to persist into early adulthood and beyond [6]
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