Growth hormone treatment and quality of life among survivors of childhood cancer.
BACKGROUND
We report the health-related quality of life (QOL) of survivors of childhood cancer (acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, ALL, or central nervous system, CNS, tumour), and whether or not they had growth hormone deficiency (GHD) requiring growth hormone treatment (GHT).


METHODS
We assessed 77 survivors of childhood ALL (n = 51) or CNS tumours (n = 26), aged between 8-18 years, and free from disease for > or = 4 years. Survivors and their mothers independently rated survivors' QOL, and mothers completed semi-structured interviews to determine their views of the benefits and disadvantages of GHT.


RESULTS
Survivors, especially those treated for a CNS tumour, reported poorer QOL compared with UK population norms. Although survivors of ALL reported better QOL than survivors of CNS tumours, there were no differences depending on whether or not they were prescribed GHT. However, mothers reported that those prescribed GHT had worse QOL than those not. All but 2 survivors were responsible for their own injections. A minority of mothers were disappointed with the child's rate of growth, and reported that children experienced pain with injections.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that QOL in survivors of childhood cancer is compromised compared with the normal population, especially following CNS tumours. Longitudinal studies are vital to determine whether GHT can contribute to improved QOL for cancer survivors, especially those who experience more intensive initial therapy regimes.
Eiser
C
C
Cancer Research UK Child and Family Research Group, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. c.eiser@sheffield.ac.uk
Vance
Y H
YH
Glaser
A
A
Galvin
H
H
Horne
B
B
Picton
S
S
Stoner
A
A
Butler
G
G
D000293:Adolescent; D016543:Central Nervous System Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D004393:Dwarfism, Pituitary / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D019382:Human Growth Hormone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D019382:Human Growth Hormone