Definitions
- Treatment completion: Completion of maintenance phase of
treatment protocol.
- Childhood Cancer Survivor: One who has completed treatment of
childhood cancer and is in continued remission for at-least 2 years
post treatment completion5,6.
- Late Effects: Late effects are defined as any physical or
psychological outcome that develops or persists after treatment is
completed5,6.
- Neurocognitive Deficits: Encompasses the group of disorders
in which the primary clinical deficit is in cognitive function and
that are acquired
rather than developmental7.
Sample size: Based on previous studies4, the
prevalence of neurocognitive deficits in ALL survivors was taken as
58.9% and the sample size was calculated with a relative precision of
20% to be 70.
Procedures: Children who met the inclusion criteria, and whose
parents/guardians provided a written informed consent, were included in
the study. Each participant underwent a basic anthropometric evaluation
and medical assessment. Complete demographic details including age, sex,
current address, family type, birth order, parental education levels
were documented. Socioeconomic stratification was done based on the
modified kuppuswamy scale, which is based on education, occupation and
income of the head of the family8. Exposure data,
including chemotherapy used(with cumulative doses), radiation received
and surgical procedures done, was retrieved from the participants
medical records stored in their clinic files. Information was collected
on a detailed proforma.