Racial and ethnic disparities in neurocognitive, emotional, and quality-of-life outcomes in survivors of childhood cancer: A report from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study

Abstract

Background: Survivors of childhood cancer are at risk of neurocognitive impairment, emotional distress, and poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL); however, the effect of race/ethnicity is understudied. The objective of this study was to identify race/ethnicity-based disparities in neurocognitive, emotional, and HRQOL outcomes among survivors of childhood cancer. Methods: Self-reported measures of neurocognitive function, emotional distress (the Brief Symptom Inventory-18), and HRQOL (the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 health survey) were compared between minority (Hispanic, n = 821; non-Hispanic black [NHB], n = 600) and non-Hispanic white (NHW) (n = 12,287) survivors from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (median age, 30.9 years; range, 16.0-54.1 years). By using a sample of 3055 siblings, the magnitude of same-race/same-ethnicity survivor-sibling differences was compared between racial/ethnic groups, adjusting for demographic and treatment characteristics and current socioeconomic status (SES). Results: No clear pattern of disparity in neurocognitive outcomes by race/ethnicity was observed. The magnitude of the survivor-sibling difference in the mean score for depression was greater in Hispanics than in NHWs (3.59 vs 1.09; P =.004). NHBs and Hispanics had greater survivor-sibling differences in HRQOL than NHWs for mental health (NHBs: −5.78 vs −0.69; P =.001; Hispanics: −3.87 vs −0.69; P =.03), and social function (NHBs: −7.11 vs −1.47; P