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data from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study, a comparison of survivors (n =2979)
with siblings (n = 649) aged 12 to 17 years, showed survivors were 1.5 times more
likely to have symptoms of depression and anxiety and that CNS disease or CNS -
directed therapies were specific risk factors (Shultz et al., 2007).
In a review of the research into depression in paediatric cancer, Dejong and
Fombonne (2006) noted that there have been few studies that have looked at depression
in this population and of those most have excluded brain tumours. However, brain
tumours make up twenty percent of all childhood cancer diagnoses and survivors have
increased vulnerability to mood alterations. The authors concluded that there was only a
modest prevalence of depression but concluded that minor depression may still have a
significant negative effect on quality of life. In a study of QOL and depression
symptoms in a group of seventy adult CCS, Sharp, Kinahan, Didwania and Stolley
(2007) found that while most survivors were doing well, 21% had elevated symptoms of
depression (n =15) and reported significantly poorer QOL scores across all domains.
To summarise, post traumatic stress appears evident in parents of childhood
cancer survivors and is also evident but to a lesser degree in young adult survivors. One
theme that seemed to be evident in the review of the literature on post traumatic stress
was the frequent mention of anxiety either as a symptom of PTSD or a trait that could
predispose people to experience the disorder. Depression was not identified as a
significant psychosocial consequence for this population, however, the potentially
vulnerable group of brain tumour survivors were excluded from most studies.
There were no studies I identified that looked at anxiety in child cancer
survivors as a research question but anxiety was interwoven with, and used as a measure
of both psychosocial distress and quality of life.
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