title: Cancer-specific health-related quality of life in children with brain tumors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To understand the influence of disease and treatment on the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of children with brain tumors, compared to the HRQOL of children with other cancers, from the viewpoints of children and parents.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 133 children aged 5-18 years and 165 parents of children aged 2-18 completed questionnaires of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Cancer Module (Pain and Hurt, Nausea, Procedural Anxiety, Treatment Anxiety, Worry, Cognitive Problems, Perceived Physical Appearance, and Communication scales); higher scores indicate a better HRQOL. The Cancer Module scores, weighted by age and treatment status, were compared to those obtained in a previous study of children with other cancers (mostly leukemia).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The weighted mean scores for Pain and Hurt (effect size d = 0.26) and Nausea (d = 0.23) from child reports and the scores for Nausea (d = 0.28) from parent reports were higher for children with brain tumors than scores for children with other cancers. The scores for Procedural Anxiety (d = -0.22) and Treatment Anxiety (d = -0.32) from parent reports were lower for parents of children with brain tumors than the scores for parents of children with other cancers. The child-reported Pain and Hurt score of the Cancer Module was higher (d = 0.29) and in less agreement (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.43) with scores from the Brain Tumor Module, indicating that assessments completed with the Cancer Module misesteem pain and hurt problems in children with brain tumors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The profiles of cancer-specific HRQOL in children with brain tumors differ from those of children with other cancers; we therefore suggest that these children receive specific psychological support.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Graduate School of Health Sciences and Nursing, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan.
authors.forename: Iori
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Higuchi
authors.forename: Takaaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yanagisawa
authors.forename: Akitake
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mukasa
authors.forename: Kohmei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ida
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sawamura
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
authors.forename: Nobuhito
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kumabe
authors.forename: Mizuhiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Terasaki
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nishikawa
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishida
authors.forename: Kiyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kamibeppu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires