Late Effects in Survivors of Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Treated with Autologous Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation: A Report from the Bone Marrow Transplant Survivor Study

AbstractWe determined the prevalence of self-reported late-effects in survivors of autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL, n = 92) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL, n = 184) using a 255-item questionnaire and compared them to 319 sibling controls in the Bone Marrow Transplant Survivor Study. Median age at HCT was 39 years (range: 13-69) and median posttransplant follow-up was 6 years (range: 2-17). Median age at survey was 46 years (range: 21-73) for survivors and 44 years (range: 19-79) for siblings. Compared to siblings, HCT survivors reported a significantly higher frequency of cataracts, dry mouth, hypothyroidism, bone impairments (osteoporosis and avascular necrosis), congestive heart failure, exercise-induced shortness of breath, neurosensory impairments, inability to attend work or school, and poor overall health. Compared to those receiving no total-body irradiation (TBI), patients treated with TBI-based conditioning had higher risks of cataracts (odds-ratio [OR] 4.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.5-15.5) and dry mouth (OR 3.4, 95% CI 1.1-10.4). Females had a greater likelihood of reporting osteoporosis (OR 8.7, 95% CI: 1.8-41.7), congestive heart failure (OR 4.3, 95% CI 1.1-17.2), and abnormal balance, tremor, or weakness (OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.0-5.5). HL and NHL survivors of autologous HCT have a high prevalence of long-term health-related complications and require continued monitoring for late effects of transplantation

Patient/Family Education for Newly Diagnosed Pediatric Oncology Patients

There is a paucity of data to support evidence-based practices in the provision of patient/family education in the context of a new childhood cancer diagnosis. Since the majority of children with cancer are treated on pediatric oncology clinical trials, lack of effective patient/family education has the potential to negatively affect both patient and clinical trial outcomes. The Children’s Oncology Group Nursing Discipline convened an interprofessional expert panel from within and beyond pediatric oncology to review available and emerging evidence and develop expert consensus recommendations regarding harmonization of patient/family education practices for newly diagnosed pediatric oncology patients across institutions. Five broad principles, with associated recommendations, were identified by the panel, including recognition that (1) in pediatric oncology, patient/family education is family-centered; (2) a diagnosis of childhood cancer is overwhelming and the family needs time to process the diagnosis and develop a plan for managing ongoing life demands before they can successfully learn to care for the child; (3) patient/family education should be an interprofessional endeavor with 3 key areas of focus: (a) diagnosis/treatment, (b) psychosocial coping, and (c) care of the child; (4) patient/family education should occur across the continuum of care; and (5) a supportive environment is necessary to optimize learning. Dissemination and implementation of these recommendations will set the stage for future studies that aim to develop evidence to inform best practices, and ultimately to establish the standard of care for effective patient/family education in pediatric oncology

Implementation of a provider-focused intervention for maximizing human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake in young cancer survivors receiving follow-up care in pediatric oncology practices: Protocol for a cluster-randomized trial of the HPV PROTECT intervention

BACKGROUND: Childhood cancer survivors are at high risk for developing new cancers (such as cervical and anal cancer) caused by persistent infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV vaccination is effective in preventing the infections that lead to these cancers, but HPV vaccine uptake is low among young cancer survivors. Lack of a healthcare provider recommendation is the most common reason that cancer survivors fail to initiate the HPV vaccine. Strategies that are most successful in increasing HPV vaccine uptake in the general population focus on enhancing healthcare provider skills to effectively recommend the vaccine, and reducing barriers faced by the young people and their parents in receiving the vaccine. This study will evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of an evidence-based healthcare provider-focused intervention (HPV PROTECT) adapted for use in pediatric oncology clinics, to increase HPV vaccine uptake among cancer survivors 9 to 17 years of age. METHODS: This study uses a hybrid type 1 effectiveness-implementation approach. We will test the effectiveness of the HPV PROTECT intervention using a stepped-wedge cluster-randomized trial across a multi-state sample of pediatric oncology clinics. We will evaluate implementation (provider perspectives regarding intervention feasibility, acceptability and appropriateness in the pediatric oncology setting, provider fidelity to intervention components and change in provider HPV vaccine-related knowledge and practices [e.g., providing vaccine recommendations, identifying and reducing barriers to vaccination]) using a mixed methods approach. DISCUSSION: This multisite trial will address important gaps in knowledge relevant to the prevention of HPV-related malignancies in young cancer survivors by testing the effectiveness of an evidence-based provider-directed intervention, adapted for the pediatric oncology setting, to increase HPV vaccine initiation in young cancer survivors receiving care in pediatric oncology clinics, and by procuring information regarding intervention delivery to inform future implementation efforts. If proven effective, HPV PROTECT will be readily disseminable for testing in the larger pediatric oncology community to increase HPV vaccine uptake in cancer survivors, facilitating protection against HPV-related morbidities for this vulnerable population. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04469569, prospectively registered on July 14, 2020

Haptoglobin Gene Expression and Anthracycline-Related Cardiomyopathy in Childhood Cancer Survivors: A COG-ALTE03N1 Report

Article describes how anthracycline-related cardiomyopathy is a leading cause of premature death in childhood cancer survivors. The authors interrogated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) to identify genetic variants serving regulatory functions or genetic variants not easily identified when using genomewide array platforms

In Support of a Patient-Driven Initiative and Petition to Lower the High Price of Cancer Drugs

Comment in Lowering the High Cost of Cancer Drugs--III. [Mayo Clin Proc. 2016] Lowering the High Cost of Cancer Drugs--I. [Mayo Clin Proc. 2016] Lowering the High Cost of Cancer Drugs--IV. [Mayo Clin Proc. 2016] In Reply--Lowering the High Cost of Cancer Drugs. [Mayo Clin Proc. 2016] US oncologists call for government regulation to curb drug price rises. [BMJ. 2015

Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 354 diseases and injuries for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017 (GBD 2017) includes a comprehensive assessment of incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability (YLDs) for 354 causes in 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2017. Previous GBD studies have shown how the decline of mortality rates from 1990 to 2016 has led to an increase in life expectancy, an ageing global population, and an expansion of the non-fatal burden of disease and injury. These studies have also shown how a substantial portion of the world's population experiences non-fatal health loss with considerable heterogeneity among different causes, locations, ages, and sexes. Ongoing objectives of the GBD study include increasing the level of estimation detail, improving analytical strategies, and increasing the amount of high-quality data. Methods: We estimated incidence and prevalence for 354 diseases and injuries and 3484 sequelae. We used an updated and extensive body of literature studies, survey data, surveillance data, inpatient admission records, outpatient visit records, and health insurance claims, and additionally used results from cause of death models to inform estimates using a total of 68 781 data sources. Newly available clinical data from India, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Nepal, China, Brazil, Norway, and Italy were incorporated, as well as updated claims data from the USA and new claims data from Taiwan (province of China) and Singapore. We used DisMod-MR 2.1, a Bayesian meta-regression tool, as the main method of estimation, ensuring consistency between rates of incidence, prevalence, remission, and cause of death for each condition. YLDs were estimated as the product of a prevalence estimate and a disability weight for health states of each mutually exclusive sequela, adjusted for comorbidity. We updated the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a summary development indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and total fertility rate. Additionally, we calculated differences between male and female YLDs to identify divergent trends across sexes. GBD 2017 complies with the Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting. Findings: Globally, for females, the causes with the greatest age-standardised prevalence were oral disorders, headache disorders, and haemoglobinopathies and haemolytic anaemias in both 1990 and 2017. For males, the causes with the greatest age-standardised prevalence were oral disorders, headache disorders, and tuberculosis including latent tuberculosis infection in both 1990 and 2017. In terms of YLDs, low back pain, headache disorders, and dietary iron deficiency were the leading Level 3 causes of YLD counts in 1990, whereas low back pain, headache disorders, and depressive disorders were the leading causes in 2017 for both sexes combined. All-cause age-standardised YLD rates decreased by 3·9% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 3·1-4·6) from 1990 to 2017; however, the all-age YLD rate increased by 7·2% (6·0-8·4) while the total sum of global YLDs increased from 562 million (421-723) to 853 million (642-1100). The increases for males and females were similar, with increases in all-age YLD rates of 7·9% (6·6-9·2) for males and 6·5% (5·4-7·7) for females. We found significant differences between males and females in terms of age-standardised prevalence estimates for multiple causes. The causes with the greatest relative differences between sexes in 2017 included substance use disorders (3018 cases [95% UI 2782-3252] per 100 000 in males vs 1400 [1279-1524] per 100 000 in females), transport injuries (3322 [3082-3583] vs 2336 [2154-2535]), and self-harm and interpersonal violence (3265 [2943-3630] vs 5643 [5057-6302]). Interpretation: Global all-cause age-standardised YLD rates have improved only slightly over a period spanning nearly three decades. However, the magnitude of the non-fatal disease burden has expanded globally, with increasing numbers of people who have a wide spectrum of conditions. A subset of conditions has remained globally pervasive since 1990, whereas other conditions have displayed more dynamic trends, with different ages, sexes, and geographies across the globe experiencing varying burdens and trends of health loss. This study emphasises how global improvements in premature mortality for select conditions have led to older populations with complex and potentially expensive diseases, yet also highlights global achievements in certain domains of disease and injury

Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality and life expectancy, 1950-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background: Assessments of age-specific mortality and life expectancy have been done by the UN Population Division, Department of Economics and Social Affairs (UNPOP), the United States Census Bureau, WHO, and as part of previous iterations of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD). Previous iterations of the GBD used population estimates from UNPOP, which were not derived in a way that was internally consistent with the estimates of the numbers of deaths in the GBD. The present iteration of the GBD, GBD 2017, improves on previous assessments and provides timely estimates of the mortality experience of populations globally. Methods: The GBD uses all available data to produce estimates of mortality rates between 1950 and 2017 for 23 age groups, both sexes, and 918 locations, including 195 countries and territories and subnational locations for 16 countries. Data used include vital registration systems, sample registration systems, household surveys (complete birth histories, summary birth histories, sibling histories), censuses (summary birth histories, household deaths), and Demographic Surveillance Sites. In total, this analysis used 8259 data sources. Estimates of the probability of death between birth and the age of 5 years and between ages 15 and 60 years are generated and then input into a model life table system to produce complete life tables for all locations and years. Fatal discontinuities and mortality due to HIV/AIDS are analysed separately and then incorporated into the estimation. We analyse the relationship between age-specific mortality and development status using the Socio-demographic Index, a composite measure based on fertility under the age of 25 years, education, and income. There are four main methodological improvements in GBD 2017 compared with GBD 2016: 622 additional data sources have been incorporated; new estimates of population, generated by the GBD study, are used; statistical methods used in different components of the analysis have been further standardised and improved; and the analysis has been extended backwards in time by two decades to start in 1950. Findings: Globally, 18·7% (95% uncertainty interval 18·4–19·0) of deaths were registered in 1950 and that proportion has been steadily increasing since, with 58·8% (58·2–59·3) of all deaths being registered in 2015. At the global level, between 1950 and 2017, life expectancy increased from 48·1 years (46·5–49·6) to 70·5 years (70·1–70·8) for men and from 52·9 years (51·7–54·0) to 75·6 years (75·3–75·9) for women. Despite this overall progress, there remains substantial variation in life expectancy at birth in 2017, which ranges from 49·1 years (46·5–51·7) for men in the Central African Republic to 87·6 years (86·9–88·1) among women in Singapore. The greatest progress across age groups was for children younger than 5 years; under-5 mortality dropped from 216·0 deaths (196·3–238·1) per 1000 livebirths in 1950 to 38·9 deaths (35·6–42·83) per 1000 livebirths in 2017, with huge reductions across countries. Nevertheless, there were still 5·4 million (5·2–5·6) deaths among children younger than 5 years in the world in 2017. Progress has been less pronounced and more variable for adults, especially for adult males, who had stagnant or increasing mortality rates in several countries. The gap between male and female life expectancy between 1950 and 2017, while relatively stable at the global level, shows distinctive patterns across super-regions and has consistently been the largest in central Europe, eastern Europe, and central Asia, and smallest in south Asia. Performance was also variable across countries and time in observed mortality rates compared with those expected on the basis of development. Interpretation: This analysis of age-sex-specific mortality shows that there are remarkably complex patterns in population mortality across countries. The findings of this study highlight global successes, such as the large decline in under-5 mortality, which reflects significant local, national, and global commitment and investment over several decades. However, they also bring attention to mortality patterns that are a cause for concern, particularly among adult men and, to a lesser extent, women, whose mortality rates have stagnated in many countries over the time period of this study, and in some cases are increasing

Survival Variability by Race and Ethnicity in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Context: The role of race/ethnicity in survival of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is unclear, with some studies reporting poorer survival among minority children and others reporting equivalent survival across race/ethnicity in the modern, risk-stratified treatment era. Objective: To investigate the relation between race/ethnicity and survival in a large, population-based analysis of incident ALL cases in the United States. Design, Population, and Setting: This study included 4952 individuals diagnosed with ALL between 1973 and 1999 at age 19 years or younger. ALL cases were identified from 9 population-based registries of the National Cancer Institute\u27s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program. Main Outcome Measures: Survival probabilities were compared among white, black, Hispanic, Asian/ Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaskan Native children. Kaplan-Meier curves and proportional hazard ratios from Cox regression analysis were calculated, accounting for treatment era (1973-1982, 1983-1989, and 1990-1999), age at diagnosis (\u3c1, 1-9, and 10-19 years), and sex. Results: Although overall 5-year survival probabilities improved with each successive treatment era, differences according to race/ethnicity persisted. For 1990-1999, 5-year survival was 84% for white children, 81% for Asian/Pacific Islander children, 75% for black children, and 72% for both American Indian/Alaskan Native children and Hispanic children. The largest difference by race/ethnicity was observed among children diagnosed between ages 1 and 9 years. Compared with white children, after adjusting for treatment era, age at diagnosis, and sex, children of black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaskan Native descent had hazard ratios of 1.50 (95% CI, 1.0-2.2; P=.03), 1.83 (95% CI, 1.4-2.4; P\u3c.001), and 1.90 (95% CI, 0.8-4.6; P=.16). Conclusions: Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaskan Native children with ALL have worse survival than white and Asian/Pacific Islander children, even in the contemporary treatment era. Future work must delineate the social and biological factors, including any differences in pharmacokinetics associated with chemotherapeutic agents, that account for disparities in outcome

Knowledge & attitudes of mental health professionals regarding psychiatric research

Background & objectives: Mental health professionals have varied attitudes and views regarding informed consent and confidentiality protections in psychiatric research and clinical care. The present study was designed to understand the knowledge and views of mental health professionals (MHPs) regarding informed consent and confidentiality protection practices. Methods: Mental health professionals (n=121) who were members of the Delhi Psychiatric Society, were invited to participate in this questionnaire-based study of their knowledge and attitudes regarding informed consent and confidentiality. Half of them expressed willingness to discuss participation and gave initial oral consent (n=62); of these, 31 gave written informed consent to participate and completed the questionnaires. The questionnaires included both forced choice (yes / no / do not know) and open-ended questions. Questionnaires content reflected prominent guidelines on informed consent and confidentiality protection. Results: Attitudes of the majority of the participants towards informed consent and confidentiality were in line with ethical principles and guidelines. All expressed the opinion that confidentiality should generally be respected and that if confidentiality was breached, there could be mistrust of the professional by the patient/participant. The mean knowledge scores regarding informed consent and confidentiality were 8.55 ± 1.46 and 8.16 ± 1.29, respectively. Interpretation & conclusions: The participating mental health professionals appeared to have adequate knowledge of basic ethical guidelines concerning informed consent and confidentiality. Most respondents were aware of ethical issues in research. Given the small sample size and low response rate, the significance of the quantitative analysis must be regarded with modesty, and qualitative analysis of open-ended questions may be more valuable for development of future research. Increased efforts to involve mental health professionals in research on ethical concerns pertinent to their work must be made, and the actual practices of these professionals with regard to ethical guidelines need to be studied