Findings seen decades after cancer diagnosis and treatment
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, June 2, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Adult survivors of childhood cancer have an elevated risk for late-onset memory impairment, according to a study published online May 31 in JAMA Network Open.
Nicholas S. Phillips, M.D., Ph.D., from St. Jude Children s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and colleagues assessed whether aging adult childhood cancer survivors report more new-onset neurocognitive impairments compared to their siblings (232 siblings). The analysis included 2,375 survivors participating in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (diagnosis from 1970 through 1986) with new-onset neurocognitive impairment assessed between baseline (23.4 years after diagnosis) and follow-up (35.0 years after diagnosis).
The researchers found that compared with siblings, a higher proportion of survivors with no impairment in memory at baseline had new-onset memory impairment at follow-up (siblings: 7.8 percent; acute lymphoblastic leukemia [ALL] survivors treated with chemotherapy only: 14.0 percent; ALL survivors treated with cranial radiation [CRT]: 25.8 percent; central nervous system [CNS] tumor survivors: 34.7 percent; Hodgkin lymphoma survivors: 16.6 percent). There was an association observed between new-onset memory impairment and CRT in CNS tumor survivors (RR, 1.97) and alkylator chemotherapy â¥8,000 mg/m² in ALL survivors treated without CRT (RR, 2.80).
“These findings suggest that adult survivors of childhood cancer are at elevated risk for new-onset neurocognitive impairments as they age and that such new-onset impairment may be an indicator of future neurocognitive decline and possibly dementia,” the authors write.
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