Survivorship,SAYAO,and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

This issue of JAYAO has four papers that highlight the importance of survivorship in the adolescent and young adult (AYA) population. Pediatric oncologists have successfully created survivorship guidelines, and most pediatric programs have implemented survivorship or long-term follow-up clinics, but survivorship programs aimed at young adults are not as well organized and, more often than not, are integrated into general adult cancer survivorship clinics. A recent article by Suh et al. found that most general practitioners are unfamiliar with the guidelines and are uncomfortable treating adult survivors of childhood cancer. ¹ The reality of AYA survivorship is that general practitioners can expect to see more such patients. Ward et al. of the American Cancer Society recently reported the 2014 United States estimates of cancer incidence, mortality, and survival for the childhood and adolescent cancer age group. ² They estimate that 15,780 new cases of childhood and adolescent cancer (birth to age 19) will be diagnosed in the United States in 2014 and that 1 in 285 children will be diagnosed with cancer before they turn 20. They also estimated that 1 in 530 young adults between the ages of 20 and 39 years are childhood cancer survivors and that at the beginning of 2010 there were nearly 400,000 survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer who had been diagnosed before they turned 20. It is important to note that 70% of these survivors are aged 20 years or older ² and, thus, AYAs.

JAYAO strongly encourages our readers to review the four papers in this issue, as they highlight some of the opportunities and barriers to developing successful AYA programs. Our journal encourages healthcare professional to submit articles highlighting biobehavioral research and quantitative and qualitative research in this patient population. However, some lack the statistical power and methodology to be able to make definitive recommendations based on the research. We acknowledge the limitations of sample size and therefore encourage researchers to consider creating a new version of the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS). CCSS has been remarkably successful in leading the survivorship academic world. The downside for newly diagnosed AYA patients is that it focused on childhood cancer survivors who were diagnosed as children. We therefore propose that a new AYA Cancer Survivor Study mechanism aimed at newly diagnosed young adult cancer patients be created and invite Letters to the Editor debating the pros and cons of this concept.