G358 Mental health needs of long term survivors of childhood and young adult cancer

Background/objectivesSurvivors of children’s and young people’s cancer are known to have an increased risk of cognitive difficulties compared to the general population, however less is known about emotional and behavioural problems. A recent systematic review highlighted the lack of consensus regarding the psychiatric needs of these patients. We aimed to further explore the prevalence of psychiatric disorder in long-term survivors of children’s and young people’s cancer.MethodsCancer registration records from a regional population-based registry of children’s and young people’s cancer in Yorkshire were electronically linked with the Hospital Episode Statistics Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Data Set (MHLDDS) covering all admissions in England between 2005 and 2016. The analysis was limited to those aged 0–29 years at diagnosis between 1974 and 2012; we excluded those diagnosed less than 5 years ago to ensure that patients who required psychological support during their acute treatment were not included.ResultsWe had registry data for 8092 patients who had survived a minimum of 5 years following a diagnosis of childhood or young adult cancer. Of these, 4.36% had contacts recorded on the Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Data Set. Female survivors (5.36%) were more likely to have mental health contacts than males (4.51%), although this was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Survivors diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 29 (6.24%) were significantly more likely to have mental health contacts than those diagnosed at 14 or younger (3.78%; p<0.001). Lymphoma survivors (5.79%) were more likely to have mental health contacts than leukaemia survivors (3.74%; p=0.006) or non-CNS solid tumour survivors (4.39%, p=0.001) but not CNS tumour survivors (4.97%; p>0.05).DiscussionThe increased number and proportion of patients diagnosed in the 15–24 age bracket who went on to develop mental health problems compared to those aged 0–14 emphasises the unique needs of this cohort. Further work will investigate the risks of mental health contact according to ethnic group, treatment modality and socio-economic status and seek additional mental health consultation data from linked primary care records.