Poor academic performance in offspring of survivors with childhood or adolescent central nervous system tumor in Sweden. Issue 10 (9th May 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Huang, Wuqing; Sundquist, Kristina; Sundquist, Jan; Ji, Jianguang
• Is Part Of: International journal of cancer. Volume 147:Issue 10(2020)
• Page Start: 2687
• Page End: 2694
• Publication Date: 2020-05-09
• Subjects: academic performance -- central nervous system tumor -- epidemiology; Cancer -- Periodicals; Cancer -- Prevention -- Periodicals; 616.994
• DOI: 10.1002/ijc.33034
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0020-7136

Abstract

Abstract: The number of children who were born after their parents were diagnosed with central nervous system (CNS) tumor is increasing, but it remains largely unknown regarding the academic performance of these children. We aimed to investigate whether children of survivors with childhood or adolescent CNS tumor were associated with poor academic performance. Children of survivors of CNS tumor were identified by combining the nationwide Swedish Cancer Register and the Multi‐Generation Register, and those who have completed compulsory education in Sweden between 1989 and 2015 were included in our study. "Poor academic performance" was defined as a z ‐score of the academic performance below the 10th percentile. Conditional logistic regression and quantile regression were used to examine the association. A total of 655 children were born after their parental diagnosis of CNS tumor and they had 1.39 times higher risk of achieving poor academic performance as compared to the matched comparisons (95% CI = 1.10‐1.76). The poor academic performance was even more pronounced in boys, among those with a paternal diagnosis of CNS tumor and those with a parental ependymoma. The observed association differed depending on preterm birth. In addition, the strength of the association declined with the increased quantiles of academic performance z ‐score. Our data suggest that parental CNS tumor affects the subsequent academic achievements among children born after the parental tumor. Abstract : What's new? Children born to parents with a chronic physical illness have been suggested to be at increased risk of poorer academic achievements. The diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS) tumors in parents before their children were born remains unknown, however. In this nationwide cohort study, the children of survivors of CNS tumors were at higher risk of poor academic performance compared to controls. The association was stronger among boys, children of male survivors, children of survivors of ependymoma, and preterm‐born children. However, higher parental education and a longer time interval between parental diagnosis and childbirth can weaken the association.