The Interaction of Age at Diagnosis and Neurological Risk Predicts Adaptive Functioning Changes in Pediatric Brain Tumor Survivors

ABSTRACT

    T-tests from 42 brain tumor patients showed adaptive functioning below normative means at both time points (test interval M=2.60y, SD=1.32). Neurological risk, time since diagnosis,age at diagnosis, age at evaluation, and time since evaluation were correlated with specific adaptive skills. There was a main effect of age at diagnosis, age at assessment, time since diagnosis, and neurological risk as well as an interaction of age at diagnosis × neurological risk for specific adaptive skills. Results highlight the importance of considering the relationship between developmental and medical variables on changes in adaptive functioning in survivors of pediatric brain tumors.

Keywords:

• Childhood
• Cancer
• Brain tumor
• NPS
• Adaptive function

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the participants who completed neuropsychological evaluations, the Neuropsychology Department at Kennedy Krieger Institute, and medical team at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Authors’ contributions

All authors contributed to the research design, analysis of the results, and writing of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Research data statement

The data underlying this article cannot be shared publicly due to the privacy of individuals that participated in the study.

Additional information

Funding

None to disclose.