title: Quality of life in long-term survivors following treatment for Hodgkin's disease during childhood and adolescence in the German multicentre studies between 1978 and 2002.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to cross-sectionally assess quality of life (QoL) in survivors of childhood Hodgkin's disease (HD) in a cohort treated for HD in the successive German-Austrian therapy studies HD-78, HD-82, HD-85, HD-87, HD-90, HD-95, respectively, in accordance with the HD-Interval-Treatment recommendation between 1978 and 2002.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from QoL questionnaires were provided by 1,202 (66 %) of 1,819 invited survivors. These included the EORTC QLQ-C30 and socio-demographic variables. Data of a homogenous sub-sample (n = 725) defined by age (21-41 years) and event- free-survival (no progress, relapse or secondary malignancies) were compared to an age-adjusted German reference sample (n = 659).
  
  
  RESULTS
  While the global and physical QoL scores were comparable to those of the general population, survivors' mean scores were more than 10 points lower on the EORTC QLQ-C30 scales "Emotional" and "Social Functioning". On the symptom scales, higher mean scores, exceeding 10 points, were obtained for the scales "Fatigue" and "Sleep". In general, there was a gender effect showing lower functioning and higher symptom levels in women, most prominently in the group of young women (21-25 years). The results within the group of HD survivors could not be associated with the time since treatment, the age of HD survivors at diagnosis or the extent of therapy burden.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Clinicians engaged in follow-up care should be sensitive to aspects of fatigue and related (emotional) symptoms in HD childhood cancer survivors and encourage their patients to seek further support if needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, Bldg. A1, 48149, Münster, Germany, Gabriele.Calaminus@ukmuenster.de.
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Calaminus
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dörffel
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Baust
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Teske
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Riepenhausen
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brämswig
authors.forename: Hans-Henning
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Flechtner
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singer
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hinz
authors.forename: Günther
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schellong
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005221:Fatigue / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000453:epidemiology; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017741:Survivors