A nationwide questionnaire-based survey on clinical practice for childhood cancer patients in Japan

Abstract

Patients’ quality of life (QOL) is a significant issue in routine pediatric cancer care; however, such care is often provided in a conventional manner per institutional practice. In this study, a survey of routine pediatric cancer care was conducted to ascertain the current situation in each institution and compare the differences in routine care between institutions. The survey questions were broadly classified into the following four topics: dietary restrictions, activity restrictions, supportive care, and physicians’ working conditions. The survey questionnaire was distributed to 96 institutions in Japan that provide pediatric cancer care, and responses were obtained from 60 institutions. Owing to the lack of adequate science-based evidence and guidelines for dietary restrictions, activity restrictions, and supportive care, many of the responses for these topics included conventional practice with a “rule of thumb” method per institution, with some questions having greatly varying responses between institutions. On the basis of the survey results, we plan to share approaches to high-quality supportive care and assist in reviewing dietary restrictions and living restrictions, which will become useful in improving pediatric cancer care and QOL of pediatric cancer patients.