Child cancer survivors face employment troubles

Survivors of brain cancer or other central nervous system tumours were five times more likely to be unemployed, A.G.E.M. de Boer of the Coronel Institute for Occupational Health at Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam and colleagues reported.

Those who survived blood-cell and bone marrow cancers like leukemia also had a slightly higher risk of being unemployed, the researchers reported in Monday's issue of the journal Cancer.

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The analysis showed women and Americans were especially vulnerable.

People who survived other types of cancer in childhood had no extra risk of being unemployed, the researchers said.

Most children diagnosed with cancer now survive it -- the overall survival beyond five years for pediatric cancer is more than 70 percent.

However, children can face other health problems such as heart disease, infertility, pain and fatigue. De Boer's study added unemployment to this list.

"Interventions aimed at obtaining and maintaining employment are needed, especially for the vulnerable subgroups," the researchers wrote.

Childhood cancer survivors need special strategies to "mitigate the economic impact of surviving cancer and improve the quality of life of survivors," they said.