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Abstract Background Previous research shows that many cancer-bereaved youths report unresolved grief several years after the death of a parent. Grief work hypothesis suggests that, in order to heal, the bereaved needs to process the pain of grief in some way. This study explored acute grief experiences and reactions in the first 6 months post-loss among cancer-bereaved teenagers. We further explored long-term grief resolution and potential predictors of having had “an okay way to grieve” in the first months post-loss. Methods We used a population-based nationwide, study-specific survey to investigate acute and long-term grief experiences in 622 (73% response rate) bereaved young adults (age > 18) who, 6–9 years earlier, at ages 13–16 years, had lost a parent to cancer. Associations were assessed using bivariable and multivariable logistic regression. Results Fifty-seven per cent of the participants reported that they did not have a way to grieve that felt okay during the first 6 months after the death of their parent. This was associated with increased risk for long-term unresolved grief (odds ratio (OR): 4.32, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.99–6.28). An association with long-term unresolved grief was also found for those who reported to have been numbing and postponing (42%, OR: 1.73, 95% CI: 1.22–2.47), overwhelmed by grief (24%, OR: 2.02, 95% CI: 1.35–3.04) and discouraged from grieving (15%, OR: 2.68, 95% CI: 1.62–4.56) or to have concealed their grief to protect the other parent (24%, OR: 1.83, 95% CI: 1.23–2.73). Predictors of having had an okay way to grieve included being male, having had good family cohesion, and having talked about what was important with the dying parent. Conclusion More than half of the cancer-bereaved teenagers did not find a way to grieve that felt okay during the first 6 months after the death of their parent and the acute grief experiences and reaction were associated with their grief resolution long-term, i.e. 6–9 years post-loss. Facilitating a last conversation with their dying parent, good family cohesion, and providing teenagers with knowledge about common grief experiences may help to prevent long-term unresolved grief.

Parents who lose a child by suicide have elevated risks of depression. No clinical prediction tools exist to identify which suicide-bereaved parents will be particularly vulnerable; we aimed to create a prediction model for long-term depression for this purpose.During 2009 and 2010 we collected data using a nationwide study-specific questionnaire among parents in Sweden who had lost a child aged 15-30 by suicide in years 2004-2007. Current depression was assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and a single question on antidepressant use. We considered 26 potential predictors assumed clinically assessable at the time of loss, including socio-economics, relationship status, history of psychological stress and morbidity, and suicide-related circumstances. We developed a novel prediction model using logistic regression with all subsets selection and stratified cross-validation. The model was assessed for classification performance and calibration, overall and stratified by time since loss.In total 666/915 (73%) participated. The model showed acceptable classification performance (adjusted area under the curve [AUC] = 0.720, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.673-0.766), but performed classification best for those at shortest time since loss. Agreement between model-predicted and observed risks was fair, but with a tendency for underestimation and overestimation for individuals with shortest and longest time since loss, respectively. The identified predictors include female sex (odds ratio [OR] = 1.84); sick-leave (OR = 2.81) or unemployment (OR = 1.64); psychological premorbidity debuting during the last 10 years, before loss (OR = 3.64), or more than 10 years ago (OR = 4.96); suicide in biological relatives (OR = 1.54); with non-legal guardianship during the child's upbringing (OR = 0.48); and non-biological parenthood (OR = 0.22) found as protective.Our prediction model shows promising internal validity, but should be externally validated before application. Psychological premorbidity seems to be a prominent predictor of long-term depression among suicide-bereaved parents, and thus important for healthcare providers to assess.

BACKGROUND: Research on the assumed, positive and negative, psychological effects of viewing the body after a suicide loss is sparse. We hypothesized that suicide-bereaved parents that viewed their childs body in a formal setting seldom regretted the experience, and that viewing the body was associated with lower levels of psychological morbidity two to five years after the loss. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We identified 915 suicide-bereaved parents by linkage of nationwide population-based registries and collected data by a questionnaire. The outcome measures included the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). In total, 666 (73%) parents participated. Of the 460 parents (69%) that viewed the body, 96% answered that they did not regret the experience. The viewing was associated with a higher risk of reliving the child's death through nightmares (RR 1.61, 95% CI 1.13 to 2.32) and intrusive memories (RR 1.20, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.38), but not with anxiety (RR 1.02, 95% CI 0.74 to 1.40) and depression (RR 1.25, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.83). One limitation of our study is that we lack data on the informants' personality and coping strategies. CONCLUSIONS: In this Swedish population-based survey of suicide-bereaved parents, we found that by and large everyone that had viewed their deceased child in a formal setting did not report regretting the viewing when asked two to five years after the loss. Our findings suggest that most bereaved parents are capable of deciding if they want to view the body or not. Officials may assist by giving careful information about the child's appearance and other details concerning the viewing, thus facilitating mental preparation for the bereaved person. This is the first large-scale study on the effects of viewing the body after a suicide and additional studies are needed before clinical recommendations can be made.

HPV-DNA positive (HPVDNA+) oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) has better clinical outcome than HPV-DNA negative (HPVDNA-) OSCC. Current treatment may be unnecessarily extensive for most HPV+ OSCC, but before de-escalation, additional markers are needed together with HPV status to better predict treatment response. Here the influence of HLA class I/HLA class II expression was explored. Pre-treatment biopsies, from 439/484 OSCC patients diagnosed 2000-2009 and treated curatively, were analyzed for HLA I and II expression, p16(INK4a) and HPV DNA. Absent/weak as compared to high HLA class I intensity correlated to a very favorable disease-free survival (DFS), disease-specific survival (DSS) and overall survival (OS) in HPVDNA+ OSCC, both in univariate and multivariate analysis, while HLA class II had no impact. Notably, HPVDNA+ OSCC with absent/weak HLA class I responded equally well when treated with induction-chemo-radiotherapy (CRT) or radiotherapy (RT) alone. In patients with HPVDNA- OSCC, high HLA class I/class II expression correlated in general to a better clinical outcome. p16(INK4a) overexpression correlated to a better clinical outcome in HPVDNA+ OSCC. Absence of HLA class I intensity in HPVDNA+ OSCC suggests a very high survival independent of treatment and could possibly be used clinically to select patients for randomized trials de-escalating therapy.

Purpose To determine the effect of comorbidity on prostate cancer (PCa)-specific mortality across treatment types. Patients and Methods These are the results of a population-based observational study in Sweden from 1998 to 2012 of 118,543 men who were diagnosed with PCa with a median follow-up of 8.3 years (interquartile range, 5.2 to 11.5 years) until death from PCa or other causes. Patients were categorized by patient characteristics (marital status, educational level) and tumor characteristics (serum prostate-specific antigen, tumor grade and clinical stage) and by treatment type (radical prostatectomy, radical radiotherapy, androgen deprivation therapy, and watchful waiting). Data were stratified by Charlson comorbidity index (0, 1, 2, or ≥ 3). Mortality from PCa and other causes and after stabilized inverse probability weighting adjustments for clinical patient and tumor characteristics and treatment type was determined. Kaplan-Meier estimates and Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to calculate hazard ratios. Results In the complete unadjusted data set, we observed an effect of increased comorbidity on PCa-specific and other-cause mortality. After adjustments for patient and tumor characteristics, the effect of comorbidity on PCa-specific mortality was lost but maintained for other-cause mortality. After additional adjustment for treatment type, we again failed to observe an effect for comorbidity on PCa-specific mortality, although it was maintained for other-cause mortality. Conclusion This large observational study suggests that comorbidity affects other cause-mortality but not PCa-specific- mortality after accounting for patient and tumor characteristics and treatment type. Regardless of radical treatment type (radical prostatectomy or radical radiotherapy), increasing comorbidity does not seem to significantly affect the risk of dying from PCa. Consequently, differences in oncologic outcomes that were observed in population-based comparative effectiveness studies of PCa treatments may not be a result of the varying distribution of comorbidity among treatment groups.

Purpose Previous research shows that the death of a parent places children at risk for a number of negative outcomes. The role of trust in health care at the end of life has been acknowledged as crucial for patients and adult family members. However, the consequences of children's distrust in the care provided to their parents remain unknown. Therefore, we investigated the negative long-term outcomes of cancer-bereaved sons' and daughters' distrust in the care that was provided to a dying parent. Methods We used a population-based nationwide survey to investigate self-reported distrust in the care provided and possible negative outcomes in 622 (73%) participants who had lost a parent as a result of cancer 6 to 9 years earlier, at ages 13 to 16 years. All participants were 18 years or older at the time of the survey. Results In those who reported no or little trust (ie, distrust) in the health care provided to their dying parents, we found statistically significantly higher risks of various negative outcomes at the time of survey: bitterness toward health care professionals for not having done everything that was possible (crude risk ratio [RR], 3.5; 95% CI, 2.3 to 5.1) and for having stopped treatment (RR, 3.4; 95% CI, 2.1 to 6.0), self-destructiveness (eg, self-injury [RR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.2 to 2.4]), and psychological problems (eg, moderate to severe depression according to the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [RR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.5 to 3.5]). Conclusion In cancer-bereaved former adolescents, distrust in the health care provided to the dying parent is associated with a higher risk of negative long-term outcomes. The health care professionals involved in this care might play an important role in safeguarding the trust of adolescents.