Long-term wellbeing and neurocognitive functioning of diffuse low-grade glioma patients and their caregivers: a longitudinal study spanning two decades

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader Long-term wellbeing and neurocognitive functioning of diffuse low-grade glioma patients and their caregivers: a longitudinal study spanning two decades via Neuro-Oncology Advance Access Abstract Background While patients with diffuse low-grade glioma (LGG) often survive for years, there is a risk of tumour progression which may impact on patients' long-term health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and neurocognitive functioning (NCF). We present a follow-up of LGG patients and their informal caregivers (T3) who took part in our previous HRQOL investigations (T1, M=7 and T2 M=13 years after diagnosis). Methods Participants completed HRQOL (SF-36; EORTC-BN20), fatigue (Checklist Individual Strength (CIS)), and depression (Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D)) questionnaires and underwent NCF assessments. T3 scores were compared with matched controls. Change over time (T1-T2-T3) on group and participant level were assessed. Where available, histology of the initial tumour was revised and immunohistochemical staining for IDH1 R 132H mutant protein was performed. Results Thirty patients and nineteen caregivers participated. Of N=11 with tissue available, 3 patients had confirmed diffuse LGG. At T3, patients (M=26 years after diagnosis) had HRQOL and NCF similar to, or better than controls, yet 23.3% and 53.3% scored above the cut-off for depression (≥16 CES-D) and fatigue (≥35 CIS), respectively. Caregivers' HRQOL was similar to controls, but reported high rates of fatigue (63.2%). Over time, patients' mental health improved (p<.05). Minimal detectable change in HRQOL over time was observed in individual patients (30% improvement; 23.3% decline; 20% both improvement and decline) with 23.3% remaining stable. NCF remained stable or improved in 82.8% of patients. Conclusions While HRQOL and NCF do not appear greatly impacted during long-term survivorship in LGG, d epressive symptoms and fatigue are persistent. View on Web

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