title: Life after childhood cancer: marriage and offspring in adult long-term survivors--a population-based study in the Piedmont region, Italy.
abstract: The majority of childhood cancer cases survive to adulthood. We describe the experience of marriage and reproduction as indicators of quality of life, in a population-based cohort of adult long-term survivors after early cancer reported to the Childhood Cancer Registry of Piedmont. The study included 1237 survivors with a malignant neoplasm diagnosed during 1967-2000 when aged 0-14 years, who attained age 18 years. Vital and marital status and number of offspring were assessed through the Vital Statistics Offices. Marriage and fertility deficits were estimated by comparison with the Piedmont population. Among the individuals included in this study, 919 (74.3%) never married and never lived as married. The marriage deficit was 32% [observed/expected 0.68; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.55-0.83] in men and 18% (observed/expected 0.82; 95% CI: 0.68-0.98) in women. A total of 179 children were born to 120 women, with a fertility deficit of 41% (observed/expected 0.59; 95% CI: 0.51-0.69). In conclusion, the observed decrements in marriage in men and women and fertility in women suggest that efforts should be made to improve the recovery from physical and psychological traumas related to diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
authors.affiliation: Childhood Cancer Registry of Piedmont, Cancer Epidemiology Unit, CPO Piemonte, CeRMS, S. Giovanni Hospital and University of Torino, Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dama
authors.forename: Milena M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Maule
authors.forename: Maria L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Mosso
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Alessi
authors.forename: Micaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghisleni
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pivetta
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pisani
authors.forename: Corrado
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Magnani
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pastore
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Merletti
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011379:Prognosis; D012098:Reproduction; D017741:Survivors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult