QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN YOUNG-ADULTS HAVING RECEIVED A BMT DURING CHILDHOOD - A GETMON STUDY

A quality-of-life questionnaire study was administered in a group of 9 8 disease-free survivors more than 3 years after BMT. All participants were over the age of 17 years at the time of the survey. The transpla nts were performed between 1981 and 1993 in eight Spanish hospitals. E ighty-three percent of patients had undergone BMT for neoplastic disea se. Seventy-three per cent received an allogeneic bone marrow transpla ntation. A modified version of a questionnaire applied in Stanford Hos pital to evaluate quality of life in adults after BMT was used. A sing le investigator was responsible for interviewing all subjects by telep hone. We compare these results with the same questionnaire applied in a control group of 58 healthy subjects of similar age. The most signif icant results were: BMT patients valued their quality of life more hig hly than the control group. The mean score for global quality of life was 8.19+/-0.17 in BMT group as compared to 7.54+/-0.13 in control gro up (P = 0.0013). Studies were cited as the major concern in both group s: 24% in BMT group and in 69% in control group (C.I. 95%=0.59 to 0.30 ). The patients in the BMT group considered they had fewer problems in comparison with the control group regarding interpersonal relationshi ps with family members and friends, sleep, depression and leisure poss ibilities. However, they considered they had more problems concerning their physical appearance, studies and work possibilities than their p eers. Considerations regarding weight, height, sexual functioning, anx iety, tendency to suffer illness and problems with insurance were simi lar in both groups.