PHYSICAL AND MOTOR DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN AFTER CANCER TREATMENT AS A FACTOR INFLUENCING HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE

Abstract

Article represents the results of the research undertaken to prove the relationship between the physical conditions of patients treated for oncological diseases (OD) and the decrease in their health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Materials and methods used: 1564 children aged 6 to 18 y/o who have undergone rehabilitation at the “Russkoye pole” Clinical Rehabilitation Research Center for patients in remission with the National Scientific and Practical Center for Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology named after Dmitry Rogachev located in Grishenki village, Chekhovsky District, Moscow Oblast, Russia, after the complex treatment for OD from 2018 to 2021 participated in the research, of which 864 boys and 700 girls. The average age of the patients was 10.6+/-3.4 y/o, the average remission period was 5.4+/-2.7 years. The comparison group consisted of healthy siblings aged 6 to 18 y/o who stayed at the same facility and during the same period, a total of 238, of which 111 boys and 127 girls. The average age of the examined siblings was 10.2+/-2.4 y/o. The indicators of physical condition were tested as follows: anthropometry, strength endurance of muscles, tolerance to physical loads, development of motor skills. The PedsQL questionnaire was used for the HRQOL assessment. In order to build the mathematical models and to evaluate the statistically significant influence of factors, the classical linear regression models were used. The analysis of the relationship between groups of variables was carried out with the canonical correlation analysis. Comparison of children treated for OD and healthy children was carried out using the Welch's t-test. Results: all of the HRQOL indicators in all gender and age subgroups in children with OD were statistically significantly lower compared to healthy siblings. The most significant differences were obtained in the scale of physical functioning (p=0.001). A direct moderate relationship was found between HRQOL and a factor indicator for the physical condition (rcc=0.53), a direct moderate-weak relationship with a generalized measure of strength endurance (rcc=0.315) and a direct moderate relationship with motor skills (rcc=0.5). It was also found that a lag in the formation of basic motor skills had the greatest negative impact on the HRQOL of children treated for OD. Conclusion: the results of the research do confirm the role of physical condition in improving the patients’ quality of life. Continued research would allow developing a new tool for assessment of the effectiveness of physical rehabilitation for patients in this category.