Published in:
01-08-2016 | Original Article
Marriage and fertility in long-term survivors of childhood, adolescent and young adult (AYA) high-grade sarcoma
Published in: International Journal of Clinical Oncology | Issue 4/2016
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Purpose
We investigated the marital status and the presence or absence of children in survivors of childhood, adolescent and young adult (AYA) high-grade sarcoma and examined the influence of these factors on the quality of life (QOL) of these survivors.
Methods
Thirty-eight survivors of childhood and AYA high-grade sarcoma (18 males, 20 females) participated in a questionnaire survey on marital status and presence or absence of children, as well as on the health-related QOL (HR-QOL), using the Short Form 36 Health Survey. Diagnoses among these survivors were osteosarcoma (28 participants), Ewing’s sarcoma (4 participants), synovial sarcoma (4 participants) and others (2 participants).
Results
Of the 18 males who participated in the survey, eight (44.4 %) were married, of whom five (62.5 %) had children. Fifteen (75.0 %) of the 20 females were married, of whom 14 (93.3 %) had children. The proportions of surviving male patients who were married and who had children, respectively, were lower than those of surviving female patients. The proportion of ifosfamide-treated men with children was significantly lower than that of non-ifosfamide-treated men (p = 0.018). With respect to the relationship between marital status and HR-QOL, the scores for the vitality and mental health domains of the SF-36 of survivors who were married were significantly higher than those of unmarried survivors.
Conclusions
The results of our questionnaire survey reveal that among the male survivors of high-grade sarcoma, the proportions of those who were married and of those with children were lower than those of female survivors, suggesting that strategies providing support for marriage and child-rearing may be necessary for the male survivor group. In the married group, mental QOL was high.