Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) in pediatric leukemia patients in Malaysia has not been studied before. This was mainly due to a lack of databases on patients in the past. Many patients abandoned treatment or were lost to follow up. With more children now fully compliant and completing treatment nowadays, with higher cure rate, HRQOL has become important for our patients. The purpose of the current study was to determine the HRQOL scores in children with acute leukemia and to compare the scores for those on maintenance chemotherapy with those off-treatment as well as to determine factors which might affect HRQOL.
The purpose of the current study was to determine the prevalence of use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by children with cancer and to compare the characteristics of CAM users and CAM nonusers.
A prospective cohort study was conducted to determine the incidence of progressive encephalopathy (PE) and its associated clinical manifestations amongst a cohort of HIV infected children attending the HIV/AIDS clinic of the Pediatric Institute, Kuala Lumpur Hospital, Malaysia. Neurological and neurobehavioral assessments were performed in 55 children with HIV over a 24-month study period. Parameters assessed were physical and neurological assessments, CD4 counts, CD4 percentages, RNA viral loads and an IQ assessment at four monthly intervals. PE was diagnosed when patient developed at least one of the definitive criteria for PE based on the Consensus of Pediatric Neurology/Psychology Working Group, AIDS Clinical Trial 1996. The incidence of encephalopathy was 18.2% (n = 10) in 2002. All the patients had hepatosplenomegaly, lymphadenopathy, abnormal deep tendon reflexes and five had impairment in brain growth. The CD4 counts and CD4 percentages were more likely to be associated with PE compared to the non-PE group.