CNS Tumors in Adolescents and Young Adults: The Need for a Holistic Specialized Approach

CNS tumors are one of the most common causes of cancer-related death in the 15- to 39-year-old age group. The management of adolescents and young adults (AYAs) who are diagnosed with brain tumors presents unique endocrine, developmental, and psychosocial issues. AYAs are frequently diagnosed late, after a prolonged period of misdiagnosis. The epidemiology, biology, prognosis, and overall management of these tumors differ from those of both older and younger age groups. AYAs are usually in a transitional phase in their lives, and brain tumors in this age group carry a better prognosis than in older adults; thus, special attention should be paid to survivorship care. Fertility and other treatment-related sequelae that affect the quality of life, as well as the increased risk of secondary malignancies in long-term survivors, are such examples. Although most AYAs are managed by adult or, to a lesser extent pediatric, oncologists, a multidisciplinary approach in the setting of specialized centers with increased participation in clinical trials is preferable. End-of-life and palliative care remain an unmet need for these patients, because most physicians lack the training to discuss such issues with young patients.

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A study on prevalence of hypertension and its relationship with overweight and obesity in adolescents and young adults, Nizamabad city

International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health ◽

10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20193984 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 6 (9) ◽

pp. 3861

Author(s):

G. Chethan Raj ◽

Syam Sundar Junapudi

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Blood Pressure ◽

Young Adults ◽

Age Groups ◽

Overweight And Obesity ◽

Adolescents And Young Adults ◽

Age Group ◽

Contributing Factors ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Study Population

Background: The overall imbalance between unhealthy diet intake and physical activity leads to obesity which contributes to high blood pressure and high cholesterol. It is multi factorial disease and changes in the levels of blood pressure and blood lipids differ by age sex and race and are influenced by body fat and dietary patterns. These risk factors need to be monitored and evaluated in childhood and adolescents. So identifying and modifying the risk factors in early age reduces the incidence in adolescents and adult. Prevalence of hypertension varies across countries and states. The prevalence of hypertension in India is reported as ranging from 10 to 30.9%. The objective of the present study is to observe the prevalence hypertension among study population and to study contributing factors for hypertension among study population.Methods: A cross sectional study done on 100 adolescents and young adults of both sexes in the age group 17 to 25 years from 2 degree colleges randomly selected in Nizamabad city, Telangana, India.Results: In the present study population 52 were males and 48 were females, 22 students belongs to rural area and 78 belongs to urban area, pre-hypertension and hypertension was found 8% in both age groups. Overweight and obesity (>25) was found 7% in 17-19 age group and 9% in 20-25 age group. Pre-hypertension and hypertension was found among 10% of alcoholics.Conclusions: The result of our study concluded that there is increasing prevalence of hypertension with increase in age and is associated with overweight and obesity.

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Retrospective Study of Suicide Among Children and Young Adults

Journal of Nepal Paediatric Society ◽

10.3126/jnps.v33i2.7512 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 33 (2) ◽

pp. 110-116 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Navin Mishra ◽

Devendra Shrestha ◽

Rakesh Babu Poudyal ◽

Pravin Mishra

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Romantic Relationship ◽

Age Groups ◽

Academic Failure ◽

Study Data ◽

Vulnerable Groups ◽

Age Group ◽

Completed Suicide ◽

Common Causes ◽

Children And Young Adults

Introduction: The prevalence of suicide has been increasing globally in all age groups. There is dearth of literature on suicide among younger patients from developing country. The objective of this study was to find out the prevalence and cause of suicide as well as to identify the vulnerable groups of children and young adults to suicide. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective observational study. Data was collected from the Police Head Quarters in Kathmandu and included all completed suicide cases of less than twenty one years of age from January 2005 to December 2009. Results: There were a total of 2172 documented cases of completed suicide in the age group between 4 to 21 years. The majority were female and belonged to the adolescent age group. The incidence of suicide showed an increasing trend within the five years of the study. A monthly breakdown of the cases revealed that the incidence of suicide was lowest in January and February and peaked from April to October. Hanging was the most common mode of suicide followed by poisoning and drowning. The reason for suicide could be ascertained only among 25.5 % of cases. Domestic violence (35%), mental illness (24%), failure in academic achievement (15.8%) and end of a romantic relationship (8.7%) were found to be common causes of committing suicide. Of the 87 cases found who committed suicide because of academic failure 46.6% were at a grade ten level. Conclusions: Suicide in children and young adults in Nepal appears to be a concealed but serious problem requiring immediate attention and systematic efforts. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jnps.v33i2.7512 J Nepal Paediatr Soc. 2013; 33(2):110-116

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Epidemiological Trends in Attempted Suicide in Adolescents and Young Adults Between 1996 and 2004

Crisis ◽

10.1027/0227-5910.30.3.115 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 30 (3) ◽

pp. 115-119 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Stephanie De Munck ◽

Gwendolyn Portzky ◽

Kees Van Heeringen

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Attempted Suicide ◽

Suicide Attempts ◽

Epidemiological Studies ◽

Adolescents And Young Adults ◽

University Hospital ◽

International Studies ◽

Suicide Attempters ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Epidemiological Trends

Background: Notwithstanding the epidemiological studies indicating an increased risk of attempted suicide among adolescents and young adults, there is a scarcity of international studies that examine long-term epidemiological trends in rates and characteristics of this vulnerable group. Aims: This article describes the results of a 9-year monitoring study of suicide attempts in adolescents and young adults referred to the Accident and Emergency Department of the Gent University Hospital (Belgium). Methods: Between January 1996 and December 2004, trends, sociodemographic, and methodrelated characteristics of suicide attempts were assessed by a psychiatrist on data sheets. Results: Attempted suicide rates declined from 1996 to 2001 and then rose until 2004, but did not exceed previous rates. During the 9 years of monitoring, there was a preponderance of female suicide attempters, except for 1997. Rates of attempts and of fatal suicide were negatively correlated. Significantly more males than females deliberately injured themselves. Younger attempters, especially females, significantly more often poisoned themselves with analgesics. In nearly one in five attempts, alcohol was used in combination with other methods, and alcohol intake was more commonly observed in older suicide attempters. Nearly half of the adolescents were identified as repeaters. Conclusions: The results of this study warrant further monitoring of trends and characteristics of young suicide attempters.

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Risk of Depression in Adolescents and Young Adults with Rheumatic Diseases

Acta Balneologica ◽

10.36740/abal202001107 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 62 (1) ◽

pp. 38-42

Author(s):

Anna Kostiukow ◽

Wojciech Strzelecki ◽

Mateusz W. Romanowski ◽

Marta Rosołek ◽

Ewa Mojs ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Young People ◽

Rheumatic Diseases ◽

Disease Risk ◽

Statistical Significance ◽

Energy Levels ◽

Young Patients ◽

Depression Scale ◽

Adolescents And Young Adults ◽

Control Group

Introduction: The study is aimed at drawing the attention of the medical environment to the mental health aspects of young patients as a factor that significantly influences the efficiency of their rheumatic disease treatment. Aim: This paper is to check the risk of depression among a group of adolescents and young adults with rheumatic diseases. Material and Methods: The study was conducted among a group of 68 late adolescents and young adults (18-22 years old) with rheumatic diseases. The control group consisted of 102 young people (18-22 years old) without a diagnosed chronic disease. Risk of depression was measured using a screening tool – the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale (KADS). Results: The analysis showed that the probability of depression in the study group was 35.3%. In the control group, this rate was 19.6%. The results were statistical significance (p=0.028). Conclusions: The results of this study prove that the risk of depression among adolescents and young adults with rheumatic diseases is significantly higher than in healthy young people. The highest risk of depression is related to feeling tired, fatigue, low energy levels and lack of motivation as well as feeling worried, nervous, panicky, tense, keyed-up and anxious.

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The Australian Youth Cancer Service: Developing and Monitoring the Activity of Nationally Coordinated Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Care

Cancers ◽

10.3390/cancers13112675 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (11) ◽

pp. 2675

Author(s):

Pandora Patterson ◽

Kimberley R. Allison ◽

Helen Bibby ◽

Kate Thompson ◽

Jeremy Lewin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Clinical Trial ◽

Young Adults ◽

Cancer Care ◽

Young Patients ◽

Adolescents And Young Adults ◽

Adolescent And Young Adult ◽

Trial Participation ◽

Clinical Trial Participation ◽

Activity Data ◽

Cancer Services

Adolescents and young adults (aged 15–25 years) diagnosed with cancer have unique medical and psychosocial experiences and care needs, distinct from those of paediatric and older adult patients. Since 2011, the Australian Youth Cancer Services have provided developmentally appropriate, multidisciplinary and comprehensive care to these young patients, facilitated by national service coordination and activity data collection and monitoring. This paper reports on how the Youth Cancer Services have conceptualised and delivered quality youth cancer care in four priority areas: clinical trial participation, oncofertility, psychosocial care and survivorship. National activity data collected by the Youth Cancer Services between 2016–17 and 2019–20 are used to illustrate how service monitoring processes have facilitated improvements in coordination and accountability across multiple indicators of quality youth cancer care, including clinical trial participation, access to fertility information and preservation, psychosocial screening and care and the transition from active treatment to survivorship. Accounts of both service delivery and monitoring and evaluation processes within the Australian Youth Cancer Services provide an exemplar of how coordinated initiatives may be employed to deliver, monitor and improve quality cancer care for adolescents and young adults.

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Slowed sensory reweighting and postural illusions in older adults: the moving platform illusion

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00389.2018 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 121 (2) ◽

pp. 690-700 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Chesney E. Craig ◽

Michail Doumas

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Young Adults ◽

Postural Sway ◽

Age Groups ◽

Age Group ◽

Sensory Reweighting ◽

Perceptual Illusion ◽

Healthy Older Adults ◽

Stable Conditions ◽

Illusory Perception

We investigated whether postural aftereffects witnessed during transitions from a moving to a stable support are accompanied by a delayed perception of platform stabilization in older adults, in two experiments. In experiment 1, postural sway and muscle cocontraction were assessed in 11 healthy young, 11 healthy older, and 11 fall-prone older adults during blindfolded stance on a fixed platform, followed by a sway-referenced platform and then by a fixed platform again. The sway-referenced platform was more compliant for young adults, to induce similar levels of postural sway in both age groups. Participants were asked to press a button whenever they perceived that the platform had stopped moving. Both older groups showed significantly larger and longer postural sway aftereffects during platform stabilization compared with young adults, which were pronounced in fall-prone older adults. In both older groups elevated muscle cocontraction aftereffect was also witnessed. Importantly, these aftereffects were accompanied by an illusory perception of prolonged platform movement. After this, experiment 2 examined whether this illusory perception was a robust age effect or an experimental confound due to greater surface compliance in young adults, which could create a larger perceptual discrepancy between moving and stable conditions. Despite exposure to the same surface compliance levels during sway-reference, the perceptual illusion was maintained in experiment 2 in a new group of 14 healthy older adults compared with 11 young adults. In both studies, older adults took five times longer than young adults to perceive platform stabilization. This supports that sensory reweighting is inefficient in older adults. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This is the first paper to show that postural sway aftereffects witnessed in older adults after platform stabilization may be due to a perceptual illusion of platform movement. Surprisingly, in both experiments presented it took older adults five times longer than young adults to perceive platform stabilization. This supports a hypothesis of less efficient sensory reintegration in this age group, which may delay the formation of an accurate postural percept.

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The reliability and validity of a screening scale for online gaming disorder among Chinese adolescents and young adults

BMC Psychiatry ◽

10.1186/s12888-021-03678-1 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Xuechan Lyu ◽

Tianzhen Chen ◽

Zhe Wang ◽

Jing Lu ◽

Chenyi Ma ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Age Groups ◽

Reliability And Validity ◽

Online Gaming ◽

Chinese Adolescents ◽

Model Fit ◽

Adolescents And Young Adults ◽

Gaming Disorder ◽

Good Reliability ◽

Screening Scale

Abstract Background In recent years, there have been frequent reports of gaming disorder in China, with more focus on young people. We developed and psychometrically tested a Gaming Disorder screening scale (i.e., Gaming Disorder Screening Scale - GDSS) for Chinese adolescents and young adults, based on the existing scales and diagnostic criteria, but also considering the development status of China. Methods For testing content and criterion validity, 1747 participants competed the GDSS and the Internet Addiction Test (IAT). After 15 days, 400 participants were retested with the scales for to assess test-retest reliability. Besides, 200 game players were interviewed for a diagnosis of gaming disorder. Results The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient on the GDSS was 0.93. The test-retest coefficient of 0.79. Principal components analysis identified three factors accounting for 62.4% of the variance; behavior, functioning, cognition and emotion. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good model fit to the data (χ2 /df = 5.581; RMSEA =0.074; TLI = 0.916, CFI = 0.928). The overall model fit was significantly good in the measurement invariance tested across genders and different age groups. Based on the clinical interview, the screening cut-off point was determined to be ≥47 (sensitivity 41.4%, specificity 82.3%). Conclusions The GDSS demonstrated good reliability and validity aspects for screening online gaming disorder among Chinese adolescents and young adults.

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SARS-CoV-2 transmission across age groups in France and implications for control

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-021-27163-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Cécile Tran Kiem ◽

Paolo Bosetti ◽

Juliette Paireau ◽

Pascal Crépey ◽

Henrik Salje ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Age Groups ◽

Deep Understanding ◽

Transmission Dynamics ◽

Age Group ◽

Older Individuals ◽

Targeted Intervention ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Intervention Measures ◽

Better Than

AbstractThe shielding of older individuals has been proposed to limit COVID-19 hospitalizations while relaxing general social distancing in the absence of vaccines. Evaluating such approaches requires a deep understanding of transmission dynamics across ages. Here, we use detailed age-specific case and hospitalization data to model the rebound in the French epidemic in summer 2020, characterize age-specific transmission dynamics and critically evaluate different age-targeted intervention measures in the absence of vaccines. We find that while the rebound started in young adults, it reached individuals aged ≥80 y.o. after 4 weeks, despite substantial contact reductions, indicating substantial transmission flows across ages. We derive the contribution of each age group to transmission. While shielding older individuals reduces mortality, it is insufficient to allow major relaxations of social distancing. When the epidemic remains manageable (R close to 1), targeting those most contributing to transmission is better than shielding at-risk individuals. Pandemic control requires an effort from all age groups.

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EPID-13. A POPULATION-BASED ANALYSIS OF CNS TUMOR DIAGNOSES, TREATMENT, AND SURVIVAL IN CONGENITAL AND INFANT AGE GROUPS

Neuro-Oncology ◽

10.1093/neuonc/noaa222.199 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 22 (Supplement_3) ◽

pp. iii321-iii321

Author(s):

Muriel Hart ◽

Amy Mellies ◽

Alina Beltrami ◽

Ahmed Gilani ◽

Adam Green

Keyword(s):

Age Groups ◽

Young Patients ◽

High Grade Glioma ◽

Population Based ◽

Cns Tumors ◽

Low Grade ◽

Tumor Type ◽

Older Children ◽

Embryonal Tumors ◽

Chi Square

Abstract BACKGROUND Congenital (<3 months) and infant (3 to 11 months) brain tumors are biologically different from tumors in older children, but epidemiology of these tumors has not been studied comprehensively. Insight into epidemiological differences could help tailor treatment recommendations by age and increase overall survival (OS). METHODS Population-based data from the SEER 18 registries was obtained for 14,493 0-19-year-olds diagnosed with CNS tumors between 1990 and 2015. Incidence, treatment, and survival were analyzed using Chi-square and Kaplan-Meier analyses. RESULTS Between the <3 month, 3–5 month, 6–11 month, and 1–19 year age groups, tumor type distribution differed significantly (p<0.001); high-grade glioma (HGG) was most common in the <3-month-olds, while low-grade glioma (LGG) was most common in the other groups. 5-year OS for all tumors was 36.7% (<3 months), 56.0% (<3–5 months), 63.8% (6–11 months), and 74.7% (1–19 years) (log rank p<0.001). OS by tumor type was worst for <3-month-olds with LGG, medulloblastoma, and other embryonal tumors; OS was worst for 3-5-month-olds with ependymoma, <1-year-olds collectively with atypical teratoid-rhabdoid tumor, and 1-19-year-olds with HGG (log rank p<0.02 for all tumor types). <3-month-olds were least likely to receive any treatment for each tumor type and least likely to undergo surgery for all except HGG. <1-year-olds were far less likely than 1-19-year-olds to undergo radiation for embryonal tumors, as expected, but were also less likely to undergo chemotherapy. CONCLUSIONS Congenital/infant CNS tumors differ pathologically, therapeutically, and prognostically from those in older children. Treatment changes could help address poorer outcomes for these young patients.

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Melanoma in Adolescents and Young Adults: Evaluation of the Characteristics, Treatment Strategies, and Prognostic Factors in a Monocentric Retrospective Study

Frontiers in Oncology ◽

10.3389/fonc.2021.725523 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

Author(s):

Paolo Del Fiore ◽

Irene Russo ◽

Beatrice Ferrazzi ◽

Alessandro Dal Monico ◽

Francesco Cavallin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Tnm Classification ◽

Age Groups ◽

Treatment Strategies ◽

Disease Free Survival ◽

Adolescents And Young Adults ◽

Biological Behavior ◽

Veneto Region ◽

Common Cancer ◽

Caucasian Patients

The “Veneto Cancer Registry” records melanoma as the most common cancer diagnosed in males and the third common cancer in females under 50 years of age in the Veneto Region (Italy). While melanoma is rare in children, it has greater incidence in adolescents and young adults (AYA), but literature offers only few studies specifically focused on AYA melanoma. The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics, surgical treatment, and prognosis of a cohort of AYA melanoma in order to contribute to the investigation of this malignancy and provide better patient care. This retrospective cohort study included 2,752 Caucasian patients (702 AYA and 2,050 non-AYA patients) from the Veneto Region who were over 15 years of age at diagnosis, and who received diagnosis and/or treatment from our institutions between 1998 and 2014. Patients were divided in adolescents and youth (15-25 years), young adults (26-39 years) and adults (more than 39 years) for the analysis. We found statistically significant differences in gender, primary site, Breslow thickness, ulceration, pathologic TNM classification (pTNM) stage and tumor subtype among the age groups. Disease-specific survival and disease-free survival were also different among the age groups. Our findings suggest that the biological behavior of melanoma in young people is different to that in adults, but not such as to represent a distinct pathological entity. Additional and larger prospective studies should be performed to better evaluate potential biological and cancer-specific differences between AYAs and the adult melanoma population.

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