A detailed assessment of health status in children with brain tumours in the first year after diagnosis

Introduction Mortality from paediatric brain tumours has fallen significantly over recent years, but few prospective data exist concerning health status (HS). Aims (1) To compare HS in children with brain tumours after diagnosis with healthy matched controls; (2) To assess the relationship between parent- and self-report HS. Methods Longitudinal prospective study. Assessments took place approximately 1 (T1), 6 (T6) and 12 (T12) months post-diagnosis. HS was assessed by Health Utilities Index Mark-3 (HUI3) parent-report form at all time-points and child-report form at T12. HUI3 consists of eight attributes (domains), selected according to the importance placed on them by parents in the general public. Results 29 patients and 32 controls were included in analysis of parent-report, and 21 patients and 22 controls of self-report HS. Median age at T12 was 11.1 years for patients, 10.7 for controls. Patients scored significantly lower than controls for global overall HS assessed by HUI3 Multi-Attribute Function (MAUF) for all comparisons (parent-report, p Conclusion HS is measurable and significantly compromised in children with brain tumours in the first year after diagnosis, but improves with time.