Medical advances have made it easier to successfully treat childhood cancers. But doing so may come at a price later in life, a new study suggests.
Children surviving cancer may live a decade less than the general population, according to a paper by Harvard researchers appearing in the latest issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Depending on the type of cancer, the expected loss of life ranges from four to 17 years, researchers found. The study was done using a computer model based on how patients were treated 20 to 40 years ago, to estimate the toll childhood cancers can take.
Doctors know that cancer survivors are more likely to die from a subsequent cancer, a cardiac problem or lung complications. They also have higher rates of chronic conditions.
Still, the findings surprised researchers who called the risk of a shortened lifespan "disheartening."
But they also offered a more optimistic view. The study was based on how children were treated in the 70s and 80s when cancer treatments were more toxic.
"It's our hope that when we see data from more recent cohorts of patients, there will be improved life expectancy as a result of some of the changes pediatric oncologists have made," said Dr. Lisa Diller, clinical director of Pediatric Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and one of the study's authors.
Indeed, researchers found the data from kids who had cancer in the 70s showed they had more problems later in life than those in the 80s.
Overall, cure rates of childhood cancers have improved over the last four decades. About 10,000 children are diagnosed with cancer annually and the five-year survival rate is about 80 percent.
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