Relationship between the cumulative burden (CB) of chronic health conditions (CHC) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among childhood cancer survivors (CCS): The St. Jude Lifetime (SJLIFE) cohort.

Abstract

10560 Background: Adult CCS experience an excess burden of CHC. The association between disease burden (estimated using CB) and HRQoL has not been extensively assessed. Methods: 2878 CCS (mean [range] age 32.1 [18.3-66.2] years; time from diagnosis 25.0 [10.2-51.0] years) were enrolled in SJLIFE (eligibility: survived >10 years and >18 years of age) and clinically evaluated for 168 graded CHC using the St. Jude modified Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events. HRQoL was assessed using the Short Form 36 survey and categorized into Low (< -0.5 SDs), Average (-0.5 to 0.5 SDs), and High (> 0.5 SDs) subgroups from the Physical and Mental Component Summary (PCS, MCS) and Vitality Scale using cohort age- and sex-specific values. CB (average number of grade 3-4 [severe/life-threatening] CHC/survivor) for each CHC was calculated and summed for each HRQoL subgroup. Results: Survivors with low PCS had, on average, more CHC CB compared to those with High and Average PCS. Higher CHC CB was also associated with poorer Vitality and MCS, but the differences in effect size were smaller than PCS. When CB for each of the 3 HRQoL scores were compared by subgroups across 12 organ systems and subsequent neoplasms, CB at age 50 differed significantly (p<0.05) across PCS, MCS, and Vitality in 9, 3 and 7 of the 13 systems, respectively. Conclusions: Survivors with lower HRQoL scores have more CHC, but the patterns of this association vary in PCS, MCS and Vitality by CHC organ systems, suggesting adult CCS adjust better to certain types of CHC than others. Future research will focus on CHC with greatest impact on functioning. [Table: see text]