Severe, life-threatening, and fatal chronic health conditions after allogeneic blood or marrow transplantation in childhood

Background: A comprehensive assessment of morbidity after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) performed in childhood remains understudied. Methods: Seven hundred eighty-nine allogeneic BMT recipients who had survived ≥2 years after BMT performed between 1974 and 2014 at age <22 years and 690 siblings completed a 255-item survey self-reporting sociodemographics and chronic health conditions. A severity score (grade 3 [severe], 4 [life-threatening], or 5 [fatal]) was assigned to the conditions using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 5.0. For the BMT cohort, the cumulative incidence of chronic health conditions was calculated as a function of time from BMT. Proportional subdistribution hazards models were used to determine predictors of grade 3–5 conditions. Logistic regression was used to estimate the risk of grade 3–4 conditions in BMT recipients who were alive at the time of this study compared with siblings. Results: The median age at transplantation was 11.3 years (range, 0.4–22.0 years), and the median length of follow-up was 11.7 years (range, 2.0–45.3 years). The most prevalent primary diagnoses were acute lymphoblastic leukemia (30.7%), and acute myeloid leukemia/myelodysplastic syndrome (26.9%). At age 35 years, the cumulative incidence of a grade 3–4 condition was 53.8% (95% CI, 46.7%–60.3%). The adjusted odds ratio of a grade 3–4 condition was 15.1 in survivors (95% CI, 9.5–24.0) compared with siblings. The risk of a grade 3–5 condition increased with age at BMT (hazard ratio [HR], 1.03; 95% CI, 1.01–1.05) and was higher among females (HR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.02–1.59), patients who received total body irradiation (HR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.27–2.31), and those reporting chronic graft-versus-host disease (HR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.09–1.74). Conclusions: Two-year survivors of allogeneic BMT in childhood have an increased risk of grade 3–4 chronic health conditions compared with siblings, suggesting the need for long-term follow-up

Skeletal adverse events in childhood cancer survivors:an Adult Life after Childhood Cancer in Scandinavia cohort study

Abstract The dynamic growth of the skeleton during childhood and adolescence renders it vulnerable to adverse effects of cancer treatment. The lifetime risk and patterns of skeletal morbidity have not been described in a population-based cohort of childhood cancer survivors. A cohort of 26 334 1-year cancer survivors diagnosed before 20 years of age was identified from the national cancer registries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden as well as a cohort of 127 531 age- and sex-matched comparison subjects randomly selected from the national population registries in each country. The two cohorts were linked with data from the national hospital registries and the observed numbers of first-time hospital admissions for adverse skeletal outcomes among childhood cancer survivors were compared to the expected numbers derived from the comparison cohort. In total, 1987 childhood cancer survivors had at least one hospital admission with a skeletal adverse event as discharge diagnosis, yielding a rate ratio (RR) of 1.35 (95% confidence interval, 1.29-1.42). Among the survivors, we observed an increased risk for osteonecrosis with a RR of 25.9 (15.0-44.5), osteoporosis, RR 4.53 (3.28-6.27), fractures, RR 1.27 (1.20-1.34), osteochondropathies, RR 1.57 (1.28-1.92) and osteoarthrosis, RR 1.48 (1.28-1.72). The hospitalization risk for any skeletal adverse event was higher among survivors up to the age of 60 years, but the lifetime pattern was different for each type of skeletal adverse event. Understanding the different lifetime patterns and identification of high-risk groups is crucial for developing strategies to optimize skeletal health in childhood cancer survivors