Marriage and divorce after childhood and adolescent cancer

Article Abstract:

This study was conducted to determine whether individuals who had cancer as children or adolescents had marriage patterns that differed from control subjects. The patterns studied were whether the person ever married, the individual's age at marriage, and the duration of marriage. The findings were broken down by type of cancer. Included in the study were 2,170 survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer, and a control group of 3,138 of their siblings. The subjects were further subdivided by sex, age at which treatment was received, income and education. The study indicated that, as a group, childhood cancer survivors are less likely to marry. Seventy-three percent of the survivors were married or had been married, compared to 84 percent of the control group. Only 58.1 percent of men treated when they were less than 10 years old ever married. The average duration of the survivors' marriages that ended in divorce or separation was 65 months, as opposed to 75 months for the control group. Survivors who earned less than $15,000 per year and did not have a high school diploma were least likely to marry. Marriage rates were significantly lower compared to controls in patients, particularly men, who had been treated for central nervous system (CNS) tumors and retinoblastomas (a congenital cancer of the eye). The marriage rate of male CNS cancer survivors was 48 percent of the rate of the control group while the rate of the female survivors was 73 percent of controls. The authors believe that this finding reflects the problems in growth, maturity and endocrine development that often accompany CNS cancers. The disfiguring effects of retinoblastoma and its potential for decreasing earning capacity were considered likely causes of its adverse influence on marriage patterns.

Psychological aspects, Health aspects, Social aspects, Sick children, Cancer, Marriage

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Neurofibromatosis 1 (Recklinghausen disease) and neurofibromatosis 2 (bilateral acoustic neurofibromatosis): an update

Article Abstract:

Neurofibromatosis is a condition characterized by the formation of benign tumors of various sizes on peripheral nerves (neurofibromas). This condition, which affects 100,000 Americans, is comprised of two genetically and clinically distinct diseases. The more common type, called neurofibromatosis 1, has been traced to an abnormality (mutation) on chromosome 17 and can affect every organ in the body, including the brain. It is thought that degenerating nerve cells stimulate a tissue reaction that results in the formation of neurofibromas. A universal sign of neurofibromatosis 1 in adults is the presence of small tumors in the iris of the eye that do not affect vision. Almost 66 percent of these patients have some form of hearing loss. Neurofibromatosis 2, the less common form, arises from a mutation on chromosome 22 and results in the formation of acoustic nerve tumors on both sides of the body. This condition often leads to a decreased sense of hearing, altered sensations of the face, and opacities of the eye lens. Acoustic nerve tumors should not be operated on unless they are either rapidly growing or causing hearing problems. Magnetic resonance imaging uses magnetic fields to visualize body structures, and is the most frequently used method for detecting tumor formation in neurofibromatosis patients. In 1987, the National Institute of Health Consensus Developmental Conference on Neurofibromatosis created guidelines for the diagnosis, evaluation and management of this disorder, as well as areas of research that need to be investigated. It is hoped that such research may someday produce a method that prevents the chromosomal mutation from occurring. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Diagnosis, Causes of, Genetic aspects, Neurofibromatosis, Acoustic neuroma

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Childhood cancer survivors' knowledge of their diagnosis and treatment

Article Abstract:

This study examined the factors which led to the failure of the survivors of childhood cancer to acknowledge that they had been diagnosed for cancer. In this study follow-up interviews were conducted with 1,928 adults who survived childhood cancer to evaluate the effects later in life of cancer and its treatment. Cancer was diagnosed in these survivors between 1945 and 1974 while all were under age 20; subjects survived for at least 5 years and reached at least age 21. Fourteen percent of the survivors of malignancies at sites other than the central nervous system said that they had not had cancer. This proportion differed according to the survivors' race, the level of the father's education, the type of tumor and its treatment, the medical center at which the cancer was diagnosed and the year of diagnosis. Eighty-one percent of those who knew that they had had cancer correctly identified the type of treatment they had undergone. Physicians should be aware that a substantial number of long-term survivors of childhood cancer may fail to reveal their past history of cancer and its treatment, concealing possible clues to the illnesses in adulthood.

Physiological aspects, Cancer in children, Childhood cancer

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