Alcohol consumption and binge drinking in young adult childhood cancer survivors

Background This study compared frequency of alcohol consumption and binge drinking between young adult childhood cancer survivors and the general population in Switzerland, and assessed its socio-demographic and clinical determinants. Procedure Childhood cancer survivors aged <16 years when diagnosed 1976–2003, who had survived >5 years and were currently aged 20–40 years received a postal questionnaire. Reported frequency of alcohol use and of binge drinking were compared to the Swiss Health Survey, a representative general population survey. Determinants of frequent alcohol consumption and binge drinking were assessed in a multivariable logistic regression. Results Of 1,697 eligible survivors, 1,447 could be contacted and 1,049 (73%) responded. Survivors reported more often than controls to consume alcohol frequently (OR = 1.7; 95%CI = 1.3–2.1) and to engage in binge drinking (OR = 2.9; 95%CI = 2.3–3.8). Peak frequency of binge drinking in males occurred at age 24–26 years in survivors, compared to age 18–20 in the general population. Socio-demographic factors (male gender, high educational attainment, French and Italian speaking, and migration background from Northern European countries) were most strongly associated with alcohol consumption patterns among both survivors and controls. Conclusions The high frequency of alcohol consumption found in this study is a matter of concern. Our data suggest that survivors should be better informed on the health effects of alcohol consumption during routine follow-up, and that such counseling should be included in clinical guidelines. Future research should study motives of alcohol consumption among survivors to allow development of targeted health interventions for this vulnerable group.

Post-surgical follow-up (by ELISA and immunoblotting) of cured versus non-cured cystic echinococcosis in young patients

The study was designed to determine comparatively the prognostic value of immunoblotting and ELISA in the serological follow-up of young cystic echinococcosis (CE) patients exhibiting either a cured or a progredient (non-cured) course of disease after treatment. A total of 54 patients (mean age 9 years, range from 3 to 15 years) with surgically, radiologically and/or histologically proven CE were studied for a period up to 60 months after surgery. Additionally, some of the patients underwent chemotherapy. Based on the clinical course and outcome, as well as on imaging findings, patients were clustered into 2 groups of either cured (CCE), or non-cured (NCCE) CE patients. ELISA showed a high rate of seropositivity 4 to 5 years post-surgery for both CCE (57.1%) and NCCE (100%) patients, the difference found between the two groups was statistically not significant. Immunoblotting based upon recognition of AgB subcomponents (8 and 16 kDa bands) showed a decrease of respective antibody reactivities after 4 years post-surgery. Only sera from 14.3% of CCE patients recognized the subcomponents of AgB after 4 years, while none (0%) of these sera was still reactive at 5 years post-surgery. At variance, immunoblotting remained positive for AgB subcomponents in 100% of the NCCE cases as tested between 4 and 5 years after surgical treatment. Immunoblotting therefore proved to be a useful approach for monitoring post-surgical follow-ups of human CCE and NCCE in young patients when based upon the recognition of AgB subcomponents.