Pediatric Sarcoma Patients with Worse Physical Function but Better Peer Relationships and Depressive Symptoms than...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Oncology
• Health Outcomes Research
• Quality of Life Measurement

Background:

• Pediatric sarcoma patients face significant risks to their quality of life.
• The National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Patient-reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) offers valuable tools for assessing patient-reported outcomes.
• Understanding PROMIS outcomes in physical function, social, and mental health is crucial for this population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate differences in physical function, social, and mental health PROMIS outcomes between pediatric patients with non-metastatic malignant sarcomas and the general U.S. pediatric population.
• To compare PROMIS T-scores for key health domains in a cohort of pediatric sarcoma patients.

Main Methods:

• Collected data using six pediatric PROMIS short forms during patient visits to orthopedic oncology.
• Data was gathered from a tertiary referral center between September 1, 2016, and March 31, 2017.
• One-sample t-tests were used to compare mean T-scores against the U.S. PROMIS reference population.

Main Results:

• The study included 30 pediatric patients (mean age 13 years) with non-metastatic sarcomas (83% bone sarcomas).
• Patients exhibited a significantly worse mean physical function T-score (39.8) compared to the reference population.
• Conversely, improved mean T-scores were observed for peer relationships (54.3) and depression (42.0).

Conclusions:

• Pediatric patients with non-metastatic sarcomas demonstrate impaired physical function but report better peer relationships and lower depression scores than the U.S. PROMIS reference population.
• The findings highlight specific areas of challenge and resilience in the quality of life for pediatric sarcoma survivors.
• Ceiling and flooring effects were noted in the PROMIS measures, indicating potential limitations.