Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of Life

As survival rates for childhood cancers have risen sharply over the past few decades, researchers have turned increasing attention to what life actually looks like for those who make it through treatment. Scientists studying health-related quality of life in pediatric cancer survivors examine physical, emotional, social, and cognitive functioning — often using structured tools like the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory and drawing on large cohort data from initiatives such as the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study to track outcomes across years and decades. A persistent challenge is reconciling how children, adolescents, parents, and clinicians each perceive the same patient's wellbeing, since parent-proxy reports and self-reports frequently diverge in meaningful ways. Open questions include how to better support the transition of young adult survivors into long-term follow-up care, and how early psychosocial and neurocognitive deficits — common after certain treatments — can be identified and addressed before they compound into lasting disadvantage.

Works

83,387

Total citations

943,166

Keywords

Pediatric Quality of Life InventoryChildhood Cancer Survivor StudyHealth-related Quality of LifePediatric Palliative CareAdolescent and Young Adult OncologyPsychosocial Outcomes