Investigating racial disparities in quality of life years after
pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplant
Abstract
Background While racial disparities in the clinical outcomes of
hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) patients have been explored,
racial disparities in quality of life (QoL) during the readjustment
phase after transplant has yet to be investigated in pediatric patients.
The objective of this study was to examine the role of patient race in
QoL at least two years after pediatric HSCT. Procedure We
conducted a retrospective chart review of patients under 21 years of age
at diagnosis that received an allogeneic transplant at our institution
between January 2007 and December 2017. Patient QoL was assessed using
the PedsQL TM 4.0 at least two years post-transplant. Patient
demographic, treatment, and transplant outcome data were obtained for
subsequent analysis, where patient race was categorized as either Black,
White, Hispanic, or Native American. Results Data were
collected on 86 pediatric patients who underwent HSCT. Forty patients
(46.5%) were non-Hispanic White, 29 (33.7%) Hispanic, 10 (11.6%)
Black, and 7 (8.1%) Native American. Where preliminary analyses
indicated a difference in QoL by patient race, there were no significant
differences in physical, emotional, social, and school functioning by
patient race after adjusting for transplant characteristics (age at
transplant, sex, diagnosis, donor type and conditioning regimen) and
determinants of socioeconomic status (insurance type, estimated
household income). Conclusions Pediatric patients had
comparable QoL, regardless of race, at a median of three years after
HSCT in our study cohort.