Regular symptom reporting could improve care for survivors of childhood cancer

Finding ways to predict which childhood cancer survivors are likely to develop chronic diseases could help protect their long-term health through early detection and intervention. St. Jude researchers recently examined how patterns in symptom reporting relate to the development of chronic diseases. Using 25 years of data from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS) and the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort Study (St. Jude LIFE), they found that symptom burden (the overall reported frequency, severity and impact of symptoms on a survivor’s life) strongly predicted later disease progression. Published in Communications Medicine, the results suggest that systematic symptom monitoring could help identify survivors at higher risk of chronic illness, enabling earlier interventions and more personalized long-term care.

“Survivors often experience symptoms years before chronic diseases become clinically apparent,” said corresponding author I-Chan Huang, PhD, Department of Epidemiology & Cancer Control. “Our study shows that these patient-reported symptoms should not be overlooked, as they can serve as early warning signals of future health problems. Routine symptom monitoring could strengthen survivorship care by helping health care systems detect risk earlier and implement timely interventions to protect survivors’ long-term health.” 

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