Health-Related Quality of Life in Pediatric Patients with Leukemia in Singapore: A Cross-Sectional Pilot Study

Carol C. Choo, Peter K.H. Chew, Pinhong Tan, Jessica Q. Choo, Amanda M.H. Choo, Roger C. Ho and Thuan Chong Quah
Additional contact information
Carol C. Choo: Department of Psychology, College of Healthcare Sciences, James Cook University, Singapore 387380, Singapore
Peter K.H. Chew: Department of Psychology, College of Healthcare Sciences, James Cook University, Singapore 387380, Singapore
Pinhong Tan: Department of Pediatrics, National University of Singapore, 1E Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119228, Singapore
Jessica Q. Choo: Department of Pediatrics, National University of Singapore, 1E Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119228, Singapore
Amanda M.H. Choo: Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge CB2 0SP, UK
Roger C. Ho: Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 1E Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119228, Singapore
Thuan Chong Quah: Department of Pediatrics, National University of Singapore, 1E Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119228, Singapore

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 12, 1-9

Abstract: There has been a paradigm shift in health service delivery to a more holistic approach, which considers Quality of Life (QoL) and overall functioning. Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) is a multidimensional construct that encompasses physical functioning as well as psychosocial aspects of emotional and social functioning. This study explored factors related to HRQoL in Asian pediatric patients with leukemia in Singapore. The available variables included: age, treatment duration, household income, gender, ethnicity, religion, diagnosis, and phase of treatment. It is hypothesized that the relationships will be significant. In the current study, there were 60 patients (60% males) with leukemia; their ages ranged from 1 to 21 years (Mean = 8.03, Standard Deviation = 4.55). The hypothesis was partially supported. Age had a significant positive relationship with physical functioning, r (60) = 0.28, p < 0.05, physical health, r (60) = 0.28, p < 0.05, and the total HRQoL score, r (60) = 0.29, p < 0.05. Treatment duration had a positive relationship with school functioning, r (60) = 0.28, p < 0.05. All other correlations were statistically non-significant. The effects of the available psychosocial variables of gender, ethnicity, and religion were examined on scores from the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL). Ethnicity had a significant effect on social functioning, U = 292.00, p < 0.05, r = 0.3 (medium effect size). Specifically, Chinese (Median = 85.00, n = 33) had significantly higher scores on social functioning than others (Median = 70.00, n = 27). The remaining comparisons were statistically non-significant. The current findings added to QoL research, and provided an impetus for more research in the area of HRQoL for children with leukemia in Singapore.

Keywords: Leukemia; pediatric; health-related quality of life; age (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/12/2069/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/12/2069/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:12:p:2069-:d:239026

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().