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Pediatric Transplants

Pediatric allo-SCT for malignant and non-malignant diseases: impact on health-related quality of life outcomes

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 48, pages 787–793 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

The objective of this study was prospectively to investigate the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of 80 pediatric recipients of allo-SCT for malignant and non-malignant diseases. The PedsQL 4.0 was used to assess self-reported physical, emotional and social functioning of children ⩾5 years old once, pre-allo-SCT and on days +100, +180, +365 and +730. Emotional and social functioning was stable pre-to-post-allo-SCT and comparable to the normative sample (P>0.05), and physical functioning was 17 points lower pre-allo-SCT (P⩽0.01) with improved scores equivalent to the norms by day +730. Lower physical scores were reflected by 50–54% of children reporting difficulties with movement, strength, pain and fatigue. At baseline, children ages 5–7 reported lower social functioning (P<0.05) and patients with non-malignant disease reported better physical functioning (P<0.05). Emotional functioning in ages 8–12 improved over time (P<0.05). More than 50% of the participants were minority and their HRQOL was similar to non-minority participants. Physical functioning significantly improved for recipients of reduced-toxicity conditioning (P⩽0.01), significantly worsened for patients with chronic GVHD (cGVHD; P<0.05), and significantly decreased in recipients of matched-unrelated donor transplant who developed cGVHD (P<0.05). Multidisciplinary efforts are necessary to identify and support pediatric patients’ physical needs to improve functional outcomes.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation (PCRF), Brittany Barron Fund, and Marisa Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA

    J A Oberg, J G Bender, J H Garvin & S A Sands

  2. Department of Pediatrics, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY, USA

    E Morris & L Harrison

  3. Department of Health and Behavior Studies, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    C E Basch

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA

    S A Sands

  5. Department of Pediatrics, Medicine, Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, and Cell Biology and Anatomy, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY, USA

    M S Cairo

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  1. J A Oberg
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Correspondence to M S Cairo.

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This work was presented in part at the Pediatric Academic Societies’ and Asian Society for Pediatric Research Joint Meeting, Denver, CO, USA, 30 April–3 May 2011 and the American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, USA, 10–13 December 2011.

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Oberg, J., Bender, J., Morris, E. et al. Pediatric allo-SCT for malignant and non-malignant diseases: impact on health-related quality of life outcomes. Bone Marrow Transplant 48, 787–793 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2012.217

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