Health Knowledge About Symptoms of Heart Attack and Stroke in Adult Survivors of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
Abstract
Purpose: Children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common pediatric malignancy, have a 5-year survival rate of better than 80%. Long-term survivors of childhood ALL, however, carry an elevated risk of early mortality from cardiac events and stroke and a disproportionately high prevalence of dyslipidemia and obesity, presumably as an adverse effect of treatment. Methods: As part of a clinical follow-up study of 70 young adult survivors of childhood ALL, we evaluated the degree to which this high-risk group differed in knowledge about symptoms of heart attack and stroke from that of a population-based comparison group frequency-matched by age, sex, and body mass index. Questions from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were used to assess health knowledge. Results: Survivors of ALL scored considerably worse on symptom knowledge than did their population counterparts. The strongest association was observed for chest pain as a symptom of heart attack: ALL survivors were 14-fold more likely than the comparison group to answer the question incorrectly. Seventy-seven percent of survivors failed to identify pain in the jaw, neck, or back as a heart attack symptom. Conclusions: These results indicate an important gap in knowledge and underscore the need for health education among survivors of childhood leukemia that includes information about symptoms of myocardial infarction and stroke. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Publication Title
Annals of Epidemiology
Recommended Citation
Gurney, J., Donohue, J., Ness, K., O'Leary, M., Glasser, S., & Baker, K. (2007). Health Knowledge About Symptoms of Heart Attack and Stroke in Adult Survivors of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Annals of Epidemiology, 17 (10), 778-781. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2007.05.004
