Evaluation of the Quality of Life of Children who Have Completed Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia Treatment

Abstract

Introduction. The progress in treating life-threatening diseases, which led to an increased number of cured persons, forces us to look closely at the functioning of patients after completed treatment. The results of ALL treatment which apply to children have been improving systematically for the past years. At present over 80 percent of children are considered to be cured; therefore, it is justified to evaluate the quality of their life. Learning a subjective evaluation of the quality of life may be a source of information which often differs from the evaluation made by medical staff or sick children's parents. The information might indicate existence of non-perceived needs of patients who require specialist care and help outside the hospital environment. As far as the following paper is concerned, an attempt was made to determine the connection between chosen factors (sex, age at the time of diagnosis, age at the time of examination, time that passed from treatment completion, family's economic situation, parents' education, place of residence, risk group, treatment program, implementation of CNS radiotherapy) and a subjective evaluation of the quality of life of children who have undergone ALL treatment.

Material and methods. The research was conducted among patients treated in the Chair and Clinic of Paediatrics, Haematology and Oncology of Copernicus University Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, who completed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia treatment. It comprised children whose ALL treatment finished at least 6 months prior to the research. The final group of patients who participated in the research consisted of 64 persons. The number of boys and girls was comparable and amounted to 33 and 31, respectively. In order to evaluate the quality of life of children who completed ALL treatment and of healthy children James W. Varni's standardized research instrument was used.

Results. The evaluation of general quality of life of children who have completed ALL treatment does not depend on: patient's age at the time of diagnosis, age at the time of examination, sex, place of residence, family's economic situation or being in the risk group. The quality of life conditioned by the state of health depends on: implementation of radiotherapy, the time that passed from completing treatment and parents' education. The general evaluation of the quality of life is significantly lower in the group of patients who have completed ALL treatment. The most visible difference pertains to their functioning at school. As the time that passed from treatment completion goes by, the subjective evaluation of physical functioning decreases. Children's fathers who have higher education evaluate the general quality of life lower than fathers who have education of a lower degree.