Hearing loss and quality of life in survivors of paediatric CNS tumours and other cancers

Hearing loss, a complication of cancer treatment, may reduce health-related quality of life (HRQoL), especially in childhood cancer survivors of central nervous system (CNS) tumours who often have multiple late effects. We examined the effect of hearing loss on HRQoL in young survivors of CNS and other childhood cancers.

Within the Swiss Childhood Cancer Survivor Study, we sent questionnaires about hearing loss and HRQoL (KIDSCREEN-27) to parents of survivors aged 8–15 years. We stratified the effect of hearing loss on HRQoL by cancer diagnosis, using multivariable logistic regression and adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical factors.

Hearing loss was associated with impaired physical well-being [unadjusted estimated differences − 4.6 (CI − 9.2, − 0.1); adjusted − 4.0 (CI − 7.6, − 0.3)] and peers and social support [unadjusted − 6.7 (CI − 13.0, − 0.3); adjusted − 5.0 (CI − 10.5, 0.9)] scores in survivors of CNS tumours (n = 123), but not in children diagnosed with other cancers (all p-values > 0.20, n = 577).

Clinicians should be alert to signs of reduced physical well-being and impaired relationships with peers. Especially survivors of CNS tumours may benefit most from strict audiological monitoring and timely intervention to mitigate secondary consequences of hearing loss on HRQoL.