10 research outputs found
Type of cancer treatment and cognitive symptoms in working cancer survivors:an 18-month follow-up study
Purpose: Cognitive symptoms are reported to affect cancer survivorsâ functioning at work. However, little is known about the type of cancer treatment and cognitive symptoms in working cancer survivors. We examined the longitudinal association between type of cancer treatment and cognitive symptoms in cancer survivors post return to work, and whether the course of cognitive symptoms over 18Â months differed per type of cancer treatment. Methods: Data from the Dutch longitudinal âWork-Life after Cancerâ study were used. The study population consisted of 330 working cancer survivors who completed questionnaires at baseline, and 6, 12, and 18Â months follow-up. Cognitive symptoms were assessed with the cognitive symptom checklist-work and linked with cancer treatment data from the Netherlands Cancer Registry. Data were analyzed using generalized estimating equations. Results: Cancer survivors who received chemotherapy reported comparable memory symptom levels (b: â 2.3; 95% CI = â 7.1, 2.5) to those receiving locoregional treatment. Executive function symptom levels (b: â 4.1; 95% CI = â 7.8, â 0.4) were significantly lower for cancer survivors who received chemotherapy, compared with those receiving locoregional treatment. In cancer survivors who received other systemic therapy, memory (b: 0.4; 95% CI = 0.1, 0.7) and executive function symptom levels (b: 0.4; 95% CI = 0.0, 0.7) increased over time. In cancer survivors who received chemotherapy and locoregional treatment, memory and executive function symptom scores were persistent during the first 18Â months after return to work. Conclusions: The contradictory finding that cancer patients receiving chemotherapy report fewer cognitive symptoms warrants further research. Implications for Cancer Survivors: Working cancer survivors may have cognitive symptom management needs irrespective of the type of cancer treatment they received
Hysterectomy Does Not Cause Constipation
PURPOSE: This study was designed to evaluate the risk on development and persistence of constipation after hysterectomy. METHODS: We conducted a prospective, observational, multicenter study with three-year follow-up in 13 teaching and nonteaching hospitals in the Netherlands. A total of 413 females who underwent hysterectomy for benign disease other than symptomatic uterine prolapse were included. All patients underwent vaginal hysterectomy, subtotal abdominal hysterectomy, or total abdominal hysterectomy. A validated disease-specific quality-of-life questionnaire was completed before and three years after surgery to assess the presence of constipation. RESULTS: Of the 413 included patients, 344 (83 percent) responded at three-year follow-up. Constipation had developed in 7 of 309 patients (2 percent) without constipation before surgery and persisted in 16 of 35 patients (46 percent) with constipation before surgery. Preservation of the cervix seemed to be associated with an increased risk of the development of constipation (relative risk, 6.6; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.3-33.3; P=0.02). Statistically significant risk factors for the persistence of constipation could not be identified. CONCLUSIONS: Hysterectomy does not seem to cause constipation. In nearly half of the patients reporting constipation before hysterectomy, this symptom will disappear
Johanna Van Schagen interview for the Faces of the Holocaust Series
Johanna was a young Dutch housewife when the Germans invaded the Netherlands. The Dutch underground worked to find hiding places for Jews, and at different times during the war the Van Schagens took in four Jewish women. Once they narrowly escaped discovery by the Gestapo. Johanna is a self-effacing, gentle woman who tells a fascinating story of courage and danger. She has been designated by the State of Israel as one of the Righteous among the Nations, an honor bestowed on non-Jews who saved Jewish lives during the Nazi era.
Johanna was born in Holland in 1915. She married Cornelis Van Schagen in 193 7 and gave birth to their first child, Johnny, in September of 1938. When the Netherlands was occupied in 1940, its Jews faced the same fate as those in Germany and other occupied countries. Because of Anna\u27s conscience and through connections with the underground, the Van Schagens agreed to shelter Jewish refugees. The first, a woman named Susan, ultimately chose to leave in an attempt to join her husband in England. Though the Van Schagens successfully hid her and protected her even through a serious illness, they learned later that she did not survive. Immediately after Susan left, another woman named Meta arrived. It was during her time with the family that Johanna gave birth to her second child Nell. Meta later moved to another house to help out because the wife was ill. Meta survived the war.
Two more women, a niece and her aunt, came next. They were sheltered by the Van Schagens until the end of the war. They too, survived. In all, the Van Schagens sheltered four total strangers during the years of 1942 to 1944. Anna and Cornelis had three more children and emigrated to America, settling first in Dayton and then Vandalia. Anna owned and operated a day care center which still bears her name. Cornelis died in 1977. This interview was conducted circa 1985-1987 for the Faces of the Holocaust, a series created as a classroom resource and curriculum supplement
Establishing General Working Population Norms for the Cognitive Symptom Checklist-Work
Purpose: The Cognitive Symptom Checklist-Work (CSC-W) is a self-report measure to assess cognitive symptoms (i.e., memory and executive function) in working adults with cancer. To date, general working population norm data are lacking worldwide. We established CSC-W norm values in the general working population, and assessed associations of CSC-W scores with work and health-related factors. Methods: This cross-sectional study consisted of 1,000 Dutch working adults, of whom data was collected through an online respondent panel. The sample was stratified for sex and age, and data were weighted. Summary scores of the CSC-W total scale, and memory and executive function symptoms subscales, were determined (e.g., means, percentiles). Z- and T-scores were calculated, and analysis of (co)variance has been applied. Results: Cognitive symptom scores were relatively stable across age groups, but 18-39-year-old respondents reported lower memory and executive function than respondents in other age groups. Symptom scores of memory function (mean 29.1; SD = 16.7) were higher for all age groups and in both sexes compared to executive function (mean 22.1; SD = 16.8). No sex differences in memory and executive function were observed. Higher symptom scores were associated with performing non-manual work only, manual work only, self-reported long-term illness, and higher levels of depressive symptoms and fatigue. Conclusion: The CSC-W norms may enhance the interpretation and facilitate the analysis of self-reported cognitive symptoms in patients with cancer at work. Our findings may support health care professionals in identifying working adults with cancer with cognitive symptoms and in developing personalized treatment
A randomised controlled trial comparing abdominal and vaginal prolapse surgery: effects on urogenital function
OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of vaginal hysterectomy (combined with anterior and/or posterior colporraphy) and abdominal sacro-colpopexy (with preservation of the uterus) on urogenital function. DESIGN: Randomised trial. SETTING: Three teaching hospitals in The Netherlands. POPULATION: Eighty-two patients undergoing surgical correction of uterine prolapse stages II-IV. METHODS: Participating patients completed the urogenital distress inventory (UDI), before and at six weeks, six months and one year after surgery, to measure discomfort of prolapse and micturition symptoms. Domain scores of the UDI (ranging from 0 to 100, higher scores indicating more discomfort) were compared between groups at all time points. Findings at pelvic examination, number of doctor visits within the first year after surgery because of pelvic floor symptoms and performed or planned surgery of recurrent genital prolapse were also compared. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Domain scores of the UDI at one year after surgery. RESULTS: At one year after surgery, scores on the discomfort/pain domain (mean difference 7.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1-13.2), overactive bladder domain (mean difference 8.7, 95% CI 0.5-16.9) and obstructive micturition domain (mean difference 10.3, 95% CI 0.6-20.1) of the UDI were significantly higher in the abdominal group than in the vaginal group. Findings at pelvic examination were similar in both groups. Doctor visits because of pelvic floor symptoms were more frequent in the abdominal group than in the vaginal group. Re-operation was performed or planned in 9 of the 41 patients who underwent abdominal surgery and in 1 of the 41 patients who underwent vaginal surgery (odds ratio [OR] = 11.2, 95% CI 1.4-90.0). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that vaginal hysterectomy with anterior and/or posterior colporraphy is preferable to abdominal sacro-colpopexy with preservation of the uterus as surgical correction in patients with uterine prolapse stages II-I
Trajectories of cognitive symptoms and associated factors in cancer survivors after return to work: an 18-month longitudinal cohort study
Purpose: Cognitive symptoms affect cancer survivorsâ functioning at work. To date, cognitive symptoms trajectories in working cancer survivors and the factors associated with these trajectories have not been examined. Methods: Data from a heterogeneous group of working cancer survivors (n = 379) of the longitudinal âWork-Life-after-Cancerâ study, linked with Netherlands Cancer Registry data, were used. The Cognitive Symptom Checklist-Work was administered at baseline (within the first 3Â months after return to work), 6-, 12-, and 18-month follow-up to measure self-perceived memory and executive function symptoms. Data were analyzed using group-based trajectory modeling. Results: Four trajectories of memory and executive function symptoms were identified. All memory symptoms trajectories were stable and labeled as âstable-highâ (15.3% of the sample), âstable-moderately highâ (39.6%), âstable-moderately lowâ (32.0%), and âstable-lowâ (13.0%). Executive function symptoms trajectories changed over time and were labeled as âincreasing-highâ (10.1%), âstable-moderately highâ (32.0%), âdecreasing-moderately lowâ (35.5%), and âstable-lowâ (22.4%). Higher symptoms trajectories were associated with older age, longer time from diagnosis to return to work, more quantitative work demands, and higher levels of depressive symptoms at baseline. Conclusions: In cancer survivors who returned to work, four cognitive symptoms trajectory subgroups were identified, representing different but relatively stable severity levels of cognitive symptoms. Implications for Cancer Survivors: To identify cancer survivors with higher symptoms trajectories, health care providers should assess cognitive symptoms at baseline after return to work. In case of cognitive symptoms, it is important to also screen for psychological factors to provide appropriate guidance