Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer Face Health Issues.

Byline: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

NEW YORK, Oct. 11 (AScribe Newswire) -- Almost three-fourths of pediatric cancer survivors will have a chronic health problem within 30 years after the cancer diagnosis, with 40 percent experiencing a serious, life-threatening, disabling, or fatal condition, according to investigators from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and other institutions.

Investigators recently reported the largest study to date of chronic health conditions in more than 10,000 adult survivors of pediatric cancer who were diagnosed in the 1970s and 1980s. The study's findings, which appear in the October 12 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, are significant as there are approximately 270,000 survivors of childhood cancer in the United States - about 1 of every 640 adults between 20 and 39 years of age. The findings are based on results from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS), a 26-institution study that is tracking …