Clinical significance in self-rated HRQoL among survivors after childhood cancer – demonstrated by anchor-based thresholds

Figures & data

Table I. Demographic characteristics of participating survivors and comparison group.

	Survivors n = 63	Comparison group n = 257	df	p^a
Age, median (range)	17 (12–22)	16 (11–23)	1	0.050
Age ≤ 16, n (%)	27 (43)	148 (58)
Age ≥ 17, n (%)	36 (57)	109 (42)
Sex, n (%) Female Male	26 (41) 37 (59)	139 (54) 118 (46)	1	0.092
Living situation, n (%)
With parent/parents	56 (89)	214 (83)	1	0.364^b
Alone	4 (6)	18 (7)
With partner	1 (2)	14 (6)
Other constellation^e	2 (3)	11 (4)
Main occupation, n (%)
Student^f Employee^g Unemployed Sick leave	52 (82) 6 (10) 3 (5) 2 (3)	206 (80) 41 (16) 10 (4) 0	1 1	0.802^c 0.274^d

^aTested for differences in proportions by χ²-test; ^bTested between those living with one or two parents versus those reporting other living arrangements; ^cTested between those in education versus those not in education; ^dTested between those working versus those not working; ^eOther constellation: includes living with friends, other relatives or combined living, e.g. parents/student apartment; ^fIn education: includes those both studying and working and those having study leave; ^gWork: includes those attending military service and those having parental leave.

Table II. Descriptive statistics of KIDSCREEN-27.

KIDSCREEN-27^a	Survivors n = 63 Mean (SD)	Comparison group n = 257 Mean (SD)
Physical Well-being	48.0 (8.6)	46.9 (8.9)
Psychological Well-being	53.3 (8.5)	51.5 (9.1)
Social Support & Peers^b	51.4 (9.1)	51.3 (8.7)
School Environment^c	54.9 (9.0)	52.3 (7.7)

^aPossible range for each dimension: Physical Well-being 12.1–73.2; Psychological Well-being 4.5–73.5; Social Support & Peers 11.2–66.3; School Environment 16.3–71.0; ^bComparison group: n = 253; ^cSurvivors: n = 49; comparison group: n = 188 due to not all attending school the previous week.

Table III. Mean values and effect sizes for survivors by subgroups (anchors).

KIDSCREEN-27	Feeling like anyone else; n = 29; 47% Mean (SD)	Feeling almost like others; n = 26; 43% Mean (SD)	Feeling different; n = 6; 10% Mean (SD)	ES^a	ES^b	ES^c
Age median, (range)	14 (12–21)	17.50 (12–21)	20 (12–22)
Physical Well-being	51.3 (5.8)	47.6 (8.1)	36.4 (9.6)	1.88	1.26	0.53
Psychological Well-being	54.7 (5.5)	54.7 (7.4)	39.6 (8.7)	2.07	1.87	n/a^d
Social Support & Peers School Environment^e	52.7 (5.6) 53.7 (9.3)	52.7 (8.2) 57.6 (7.3)	44.1 (8.4) 45.0 (5.5)	1.20 1.14	1.04 1.95	n/a^d 0.47

^aEffect size: Calculated between “Feeling like anyone else” and “Feeling different”; ^bEffect size: Calculated between “Feeling almost like others” and “Feeling different”; ^cEffect size: Calculated between “Feeling like anyone else” and “Feeling almost like others”; ^dn/a: not applicable; ^eDifferent n, by group, due to not attending school in the previous week: n = 24; n = 20; n = 3.

Table IV. Multiple regression analysis by KIDSCREEN dimension (survivors and comparison group, n = 320).

Independent variables	Physical Well-being Std β	Psychological Well-being Std β	Social Support & Peers^a Std β	School Environment^b Std β
Sex^c	0.208***	0.277***	0.001	−0.003
Age at interview^d	−0.183**	−0.200***	−0.133*	−0.159*
Group^e	−0.048	−0.073	−0.022	−0.150*
R^2	7.4%	11.6%	1.8%	4.2%
F	8.476***	13.804***	1.854	3.411*

P-value: *< 0.05, **< 0.01, ***< 0.001. ^an = 316; ^bLower number (n = 237) due to not all attending school the previous week; ^cFemale = 1, Male = 2; ^dAge: 11–16 years = 1, 17–23 years = 2; ^eSurvivors = 1, Comparison group = 2.