Life partnerships in childhood cancer survivors, their siblings, and the general population

Wengenroth, Laura; Rueegg, Corina S; Michel, Gisela; Essig, Stefan; Ammann, Roland; Bergstraesser, Eva; Kuehni, Claudia E (2014). Life partnerships in childhood cancer survivors, their siblings, and the general population. Pediatric blood & cancer, 61(3), pp. 538-545. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley-Liss 10.1002/pbc.24821

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Background: Life partnerships other than marriage are rarely studied in childhood cancer survivors (CCS). We aimed (1) to describe life partnership and marriage in CCS and compare them to life partnerships in siblings and the general population; and (2) to identify socio-demographic and cancer-related factors associated with life partnership and marriage.

Methods: As part of the Swiss Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (SCCSS), a questionnaire was sent to all CCS (aged 20–40 years) registered in the Swiss Childhood Cancer Registry (SCCR), aged <16 years at diagnosis, who had survived ≥5 years. The proportion with life partner or married was compared between CSS and siblings and participants in the Swiss Health Survey (SHS). Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with life partnership or marriage.

Results: We included 1,096 CCS of the SCCSS, 500 siblings and 5,593 participants of the SHS. Fewer CCS (47%) than siblings (61%, P < 0.001) had life partners, and fewer CCS were married (16%) than among the SHS population (26%, P > 0.001). Older (OR = 1.14, P < 0.001) and female CCS (OR = 1.85, <0.001) were more likely to have life partners. CCS who had undergone radiotherapy, bone marrow transplants (global PTreatment = 0.018) or who had a CNS diagnosis (global PDiagnosis < 0.001) were less likely to have life partners.

Conclusion: CCS are less likely to have life partners than their peers. Most CCS with a life partner were not married. Future research should focus on the effect of these disparities on the quality of life of CCS.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM)
04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Gynaecology, Paediatrics and Endocrinology (DFKE) > Clinic of Paediatric Medicine

UniBE Contributor:

Wengenroth, Laura, Rüegg, Corina Silvia, Michel, Gisela, Essig, Stefan, Ammann, Roland, Kühni, Claudia

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 360 Social problems & social services

ISSN:

1545-5009

Publisher:

Wiley-Liss

Language:

English

Submitter:

Anette van Dorland

Date Deposited:

20 Nov 2013 16:10

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:27

Publisher DOI:

10.1002/pbc.24821

PubMed ID:

24136901

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.39348

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/39348

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