Abstract:

Purpose: Health related quality of life (HRQOL) concept is one of the major outcome measures in management of chronic diseases in children. Herein we aimed to review HRQOL by using PedsQL Generic Core Scales in children with cancer and chronic diseases.   Materials and Methods: All patients with cancer under treatment (oncology group), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), nephrological disorders like recurrent urinary tract infections and other endocrinologic disorders such as precocious puberty and growth retardation and their parents who gave consent were included in the study. Turkish version of PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales self and parent proxy-reports were used for all patients of 8-12 and 13-18 years of age. Results: There were 48 children in oncology group; 44 in non-oncology group. The most common diagnoses were leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and brain tumors in the oncology group. Children reported significantly higher scores in the school subscale and physical functioning subscale, psychosocial functioning, and total scale scores in the non-oncology group compared to patients with cancer. A strong positive significant correlation was detected between all subscales except for social functioning scores of children and parents in child self-report and parent proxy-report correlations.  Conclusion: Cancer is a devastating disease that impair functioning more than other chronic diseases in all areas of life of children and parents. PedsQL Genereric Core Scales is a usefull tool for evaluating HRQOL in both cancer and other chronic diseases.

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