Child Cancer Survivors More Likely to Face Unemployment

May 23, 2006 -- Child cancer survivors are twice as likely to be unemployed as the general population, according to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society and conducted by Dutch scientists.

Survivors of brain tumors or other central nervous system tumors during childhood were five times more likely to be unemployed. However, blood-cell and bone marrow cancer survivors had a much lower risk of unemployment when compared with the general population. More than seven in 10 pediatric cancer patients now live longer than five years after diagnosis, and most survive into adulthood. Survivors often face other health problems, including other cancers, heart disease, hormone abnormalities, and chronic fatigue.

A number of National Academies reports deal with surviving cancer. Childhood Cancer Survivorship: Improving Care and Quality of Life examines the "late effects" of childhood cancer and recommends the creation of services to address the psychological implications of cancer for survivors and their families. From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition recommends that each cancer patient should receive a “survivorship care plan” that would provide a summary of their cancer treatment and a description of follow-up care needed.

• Childhood Cancer Survivorship: Improving Care and Quality of Life (2003)
• From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition (2006)

• American Cancer Society
• National Cancer Institute
• CDC Cancer Prevention and Control Page
• CDC Cancer Survivorship Page