Chronic health problems threaten childhood cancer survivors

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The fight against cancer already made a great leap in the survivability of the cancer victim. Through medical developments, more children are surviving cancer. However, chronic health problems also take a toll in their 20's and 30's.

A researcher and the lead author of the study of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Dr. Kirsten Ness said, "We expected that their perceived health to be better, but it was not."

Dr. Ness also said, "They have chronic conditions at higher rates than siblings and general population and they perceived their health is worse." 

The study includes recent survivors treated with more targeted and less toxic medicines. Researchers expect to the survivors that are treated more recently have the better outcomes.

"Study results show that the proportion of survivors with severe, disabling or life-threatening conditions did go down. From 33 percent in 1970's to about 21 percent among those treated in 1990's," reports Daily Mail Australia. 

However, there are reciprocities on the declining results of the survivors of severe conditions. People treated in the 90's reportedly more likely to have poor health condition and increase in cancer-related anxiety issues compared to people treated in 70's are also found in the study.

A director of Childhood Cancer Survivorship Clinic at City of Hope Comprehensive Center in Duarte, California, Dr. Saro Armenian said, "While the quantity of survival has improved, it remains to be seen the quality of survival also has improved."

Dr. Armenian also said that "research on childhood cancer survivorship issues during the past two decades has highlighted the burden of chronic health conditions in this aging populations."

In the review of published findings in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, chronic diseases in long-term childhood survivors can involve multiple organ systems and have a wide spectrum of severity. Based on the data, findings proved to be the result of the therapies made to the child cancer patients. Chemotherapy and total body radiation therapy (TBI) may have been the greatest factors for the chronic illnesses.

Some of these chronic illnesses are endocrinological, others are related to mental health retardation, fertility and sexual dysfunction, digestive problems, secondary cancers, alterations in pubertal development, osteonecrosis, cardiopulmonary disease as well as neurologic and neurosensory disorders.

Nevertheless, exercise, good diet and a healthy lifestyle may contribute a good effect to combat chronic illness and will minimize the potential risk of additional medical problems, says Dr. Joann Ater, of the childhood cancer survival program at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Children's Hospital in Houston.

Dr. Ater also added that children must participate in all preventive measures such as not smoking or using Tabaco, HPV vaccine, wearing sun screen to prevent skin cancer and following recommend adult cancer screening like pap smears in young women.