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Young female survivors of childhood leukaemia do not have increased somatic concerns
Author(s) -
Puukko LRM,
Sammallahti P,
Hovi L,
Aalberg V,
Siimes MA
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1998.tb00970.x
Subject(s) - medicine , worry , somatic cell , childhood cancer , young adult , el niño , pediatrics , cancer , psychiatry , anxiety , biochemistry , chemistry , gene
Objective: This study examined whether experience of cancer in childhood leaves a hypersensitivity to various somatic symptoms. Further, are self‐reported somatic symptoms explained by medical late‐effects or a worry of recurrence of the cancer? Methods: Of the total of 44 female survivors of leukaemia, 42 were compared with 69 age‐matched healthy controls. We used a questionnaire to study self reported somatic symptoms and a face‐to‐face interview to explore worries about recurrence of the illness. Health status and medical late effects were evaluated by a paediatric haematologist. Results: In contrast to our assumptions, young survivors of leukaemia reported fewer somatic symptoms than healthy age‐matched comparison subjects ( p < 0.001). Late physical sequelae were uncommon except in the survivors of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Of the survivors, 52% were afraid of recurrence of the illness. The presence of physical or visible impairment and worry of recurrence were unrelated to frequency of somatic symptoms. Conclusions: The results suggest that experience of childhood leukaemia and its treatment does not result in increased somatic concerns or hypochondriacal tendencies.