Epidemiology of suffering in childhood cancer

Abstract

Despite improvements in survival, children with cancer experience physical, emotional, social, and spiritual suffering throughout their cancer treatments, regardless of disease outcome. For those with advanced cancer, suffering intensifies with higher symptom burden and lower quality of life over the last few months of life. Parents and siblings also experience suffering particularly around the time of diagnosis and the time of the child’s death. This suffering impacts all aspects of their lives and may have long-term effects on health and well-being. Integration of palliative care with oncology care leads to better symptom control and improved quality of life in children with advanced cancer and may impact on long-term health of family members.