Poster Presentation 2025 Joint Meeting of the COSA ASM and IPOS Congress

Exploration of factors influencing neurocognitive function and mental health problems in young adult childhood cancer survivors (126842)

Miwa Ozawa 1 , Haruka Ono 2 , Yuri Yoshimoto-Suzuki 3 , Yosuke Hosoya 1 , Kyoko Kobayashi 4 , Yasushi Ishida 5 , Atsushi Manabe 6 , Daisuke Hasegawa 1
  1. St.Luke's International hospital, Chuo-ku, TOKYO, Japan
  2. Medical Department, Kusakabe Memorial Hospital, Yamanashi, Japan
  3. Pediatrics, Sakura Clinic, Tokyo, Chuou-ku, Japan
  4. Graduate School of Nursing, St.Luke's International Univercity, Tokyo, Chuou-ku, Japan
  5. Medical Technology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ehime Prefectural University of Health Science, Matsue, Ehime, Japan
  6. Pediatrics, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

Background/ Purpose: In 2016, we initiated a comprehensive active screening system at a single facility on the current quality of mental and physical health of adolescent and young adult (AYA) survivors of childhood cancer.

This time, we focused on neurodevelopmental disorders, and this study aimed to know the factors that influence neurodevelopment and mental health problems in AYA survivors of childhood cancer.

Methods: In this study, childhood cancer survivors (CCSs) were defined as patients with age 18 years or older who were diagnosed with childhood cancer at least 10 years before and survived without cancer for 5 years or more. One hundred and four CCSs (median age 25.0 years, [range:18.0-47.0] and median age at diagnosis 6.7 years [range: 0-20.0]) who underwent comprehensive active screening between February 2016 and March 2025 were prospectively collected. Neurocognitive quality was assessed using the WAIS-3 or 4 (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale), and mental health was assessed using the K-10 (Kesller-10). Factors that influence these include age at diagnosis, treatment intensity (treatment intensity level determined by the Japanese Society of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Long-Term Follow-up Committee), subjective symptoms of physical and mental health (Short Form-8: SF8), family environment (Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale: FACES), and Post Traumatic Stress Symptom (Impact of Event Scale -Revised: IES-R) was tested (T-test).

Results: Lower WAIS scores were related to older age at diagnosis (p=0.01) and  high scores on IES-R (p=0.01). Higher scores on K-10 was related to lower SF-8 mental health scores (p=0.00) and higher IES-R scores (p=0.02) .

Conclusion: Neurocognitive and mental health problems may be overlooked in long-term follow-up care when focusing only on CCS with high treatment intensity. Long-term neurodevelopmental and psychological evaluations are recommended for CCS cases with older age at diagnosis and post-traumatic stress symptoms, even in cases with low treatment intensity.