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Abstract Background Epidemiological studies often rely on self-reported health problems and validation greatly improves study quality. In a study of late effects after childhood cancer, we validated self-reported cardiovascular problems by contacting general practitioners (GPs). This paper describes: (a) the feasibility of this approach; and (b) the agreement between survivor-reports and reports from their GP. Methods The Swiss Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (SCCSS) contacts all childhood cancer survivors registered in the Swiss Childhood Cancer Registry since 1976 who survived at least 5 years from cancer diagnosis. We validated answers of all survivors who reported a cardiovascular problem in the questionnaire. Reported cardiovascular problems were hypertension, arrhythmia, congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, stroke, thrombosis, and valvular problems. In the questionnaire, we further asked survivors to provide a valid address of their GP and a consent for contact. We sent case-report forms to survivors’ GPs and requested information on cardiovascular diagnoses of their patients. To determine agreement between information reported by survivors and GPs, we calculated Cohen’s kappa (κ) coefficients for each category of cardiovascular problems. Results We used questionnaires from 2172 respondents of the SCCSS. Of 290 survivors (13% of 2172) who reported cardiovascular problems, 166 gave consent to contact their GP and provided a valid address. Of those, 135 GPs (81%) replied, and 128 returned the completed case-report form. Survivor-reports were confirmed by 54/128 GPs (42%). Of the 54 GPs, 36 (28% of 128) confirmed the problems as reported by the survivors; 11 (9% of 128) confirmed the reported problem(s) and gave additional information on more cardiovascular outcomes; and seven GPs (5% of 128) confirmed some, but not all cardiovascular problems. Agreement between GPs and survivors was good for stroke (κ = 0.79), moderate for hypertension (κ = 0.51), arrhythmias (κ = 0.41), valvular problems (κ = 0.41) and thrombosis (κ = 0.56), and poor for coronary heart disease (κ = 0.15) and heart failure (κ = 0.32). Conclusions Despite excellent GP compliance, it was found unfeasible to validate self-reported cardiovascular problems via GPs because they do not serve as gatekeepers in the Swiss health care system. It is thus necessary to develop other validation methods to improve the quality of patient-reported outcomes.

Background: Palliative care (PC) is an integral part of cancer treatment. However, data on service availability is limited in childhood cancers. Aim: To describe the availability of PC services in paediatric oncology centres across Europe, and to identify barriers and facilitators for implementing and providing paediatric palliative care (PPC). Methods: Paediatric oncology centres across Europe were invited to complete an online questionnaire. Results: A total of 158 paediatric oncology centres from 27 European countries participated. More than half of the centres (n = 102, 64.6 %) reported offering specialised PPC (defined as 24/7 coverage services with a specialised physician and a multidisciplinary team). Most centres included a multidisciplinary care team (n = 123, 80.9 %) and PC at home (n = 105, 69.1 %). In 38.7 % centres, service capacity was reported to be lower than demand. In most centres, PC consultation was initiated for a refractory neoplasm (n = 126, 81.2 %). Few centres (n = 11, 7.1 %) offered PC consultation at the time of a new cancer diagnosis. Eighty-two centres (52.6 %) reported having bereavement services. Negative parental perception (n = 99, 64.7 %) and late referrals (n = 91, 59.5 %) were major barriers to implementation perceived by health care providers. Conclusion: Our results suggest that specialised PPC is available in more than half of paediatric oncology settings across Europe. Although half have had PPC available for > 10 years, many cannot fulfil the demand for service. Barriers to implementation (i.e., parental education, staff training) should be addressed, with resources and services further expanded to cover the demand for PPC, including bereavement care.

Abstract Background The number of children and adolescents living with life-limiting conditions and potentially in need for specialised paediatric palliative care (SPPC) is rising. Ideally, a specialised multiprofessional team responds to the complex healthcare needs of children and their families. The questions of, how SPPC is beneficial, for whom, and under what circumstances, remain largely unanswered in the current literature. This study’s overall target is to evaluate the effectiveness of a SPPC programme in Switzerland with respect to its potential to improve patient-, family-, health professional-, and healthcare-related outcomes. Methods This comparative effectiveness study applies a quasi-experimental design exploring the effectiveness of SPPC as a complex intervention at one treatment site in comparison with routine care provided in a generalised PPC environment at three comparison sites. As the key goal of palliative care, quality of life - assessed at the level of the patient-, the family- and the healthcare professional - will be the main outcome of this comparative effectiveness research. Other clinical, service, and economic outcomes will include patient symptom severity and distress, parental grief processes, healthcare resource utilisation and costs, direct and indirect health-related expenditure, place of death, and introduction of SPPC. Data will be mainly collected through questionnaire surveys and chart analysis. Discussion The need for SPPC has been demonstrated through numerous epidemiological and observational studies. However, in a healthcare environment focused on curative treatment and struggling with limited resources, the lack of evidence contributes to a lack of acceptance and financing of SPPC which is a major barrier against its sustainability. This study will contribute to current knowledge by reporting individual and child level outcomes at the family level and by collecting detailed contextual information on healthcare provision. We hope that the results of this study can help guiding the expansion and sustainability of SPPC and improve the quality of care for children with life-limiting conditions and their families internationally. Trial registration Registered prospectively on ClinicalTrials.gov on January 22, 2020. NCT04236180 Protocol version Amendment 2, March 01, 2021.

Abstract Background Paediatric Palliative Care (PPC) focuses on ensuring the best possible quality of life for the child and his/her family by extending beyond the physical domain into psychosocial and spiritual wellbeing. A deep understanding of what is important to parents is crucial in guiding the further evaluation and improvement of PPC and end-of-life (EOL) care services. Much can be learned from specific positive and negative experiences of bereaved parents with the EOL care of their child. This report builds upon a questionnaire survey as part of the national Paediatric End-of-LIfe CAre Needs in Switzerland (PELICAN) study. Methods One part of the PELICAN study was set up to assess and explore the parental perspectives on their child’s EOL care. Interview data were used to explain the extremely positive and negative results of a quantitative survey in an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach. Data integration occurred at different points: during sampling of the interview participants, when designing the interview guide and during analysis. A narrative approach was applied to combine the qualitative results reported here with the already published quantitative survey results. Results Eighteen mothers (60%) and twelve fathers (40%) participated in 20 family interviews. All parents reported having both positive and negative experiences during their child’s illness and EOL, which was characterised by many ups and downs. The families transitioned through phases with a prospect of a cure for some children as well as setbacks and changing health status of the child which influenced prognosis, leading to the challenge of making extremely difficult decisions. Severely negative experiences still haunted and bothered the parents at the time when the interview took place. Conclusions A deep understanding of the perspectives and needs of parents going through the devastating event of losing a child is important and a prerequisite to providing compassionate care. This complex care needs to recognise and respond to the suffering not only of the child but of the parents and the whole family. Communication and shared decision-making remain pivotal, as do still improvable elements of care that should build on trustful relationships between families and healthcare professionals.

Abstract Background Mothers and fathers are severely challenged when providing care for their terminally ill child at end of life. Caregiving needs have been studied predominantly in mothers. Differences in caregiving needs between mothers and fathers during their child’s end of life have not, however, been explored so far. This knowledge is of importance to best meet individual parental needs in paediatric end-of-life care. Methods Secondary analysis of a quantitative survey on parental needs during their child’s last 4 weeks of life, collected in the Swiss multicentre “Paediatric End-of-Life Care Needs” (PELICAN) study. Caregiving needs of mothers and fathers (parental dyad) who had lost a child due to a cardiological, neurological or oncological disease or during the neonatal period in the years 2011–2012 were retrospectively assessed using a questionnaire representing six evidence-based quality domains of paediatric palliative and end-of-life care. Results Seventy-eight parental dyads were included in this analysis. Differences between mothers and fathers were mostly found around needs to be supported as a family. In all, 28 out of 34 needs-related questionnaire items were scored higher by mothers than by fathers, indicating higher importance for that need to be met. The results indicate that these differences might relate to different caregiving roles and gender-specific coping strategies. Conclusions To best meet parental needs in paediatric end-of-life care, particular attention should be paid to both mothers and fathers and their specific caregiving roles, as differences in these roles might influence their needs in this exceptional situation. Therefore, healthcare professionals should identify how parental dyads mutually navigate care for their sick child to best meet their needs in support. Additionally, mothers and fathers should be supported in their individual coping strategies.

BACKGROUND A clinical research application must be submitted for approval by a competent ethics committee (EC) before a study can be executed. There is very limited information on how such submissions could be optimised, especially regarding research in children and adolescents, which requires particular caution and age-adapted patient information. METHODS We assessed all research applications from the University Children’s Hospital Zurich submitted to the EC of the Canton of Zurich in 2014–2015, i.e., in the first two years after Switzerland’s new Human Research Act came into effect. Moreover, we validated our findings by assessing a randomly selected sample of applications from the same hospital in 2018–2019. RESULTS We assessed a total of 86 applications from 2014–2015, originating from 29 departments and sub-specialties. The EC judged that it was not responsible for three applications and declined an assessment for another three because the studies had already been conducted. Thus, we included 80 applications in the present analysis (18 clinical trials, 52 research projects, 10 further use projects). Applicants withdrew four applications before the EC’s final decision and the EC rejected two after assessment. The EC had objections in 46 (62%) of the remaining 74 applications. Formal, including formal legal, objections (n = 503) and legal objections (n = 287) accounted for the vast majority of objections. There were also 71 ethical and 82 scientific objections. The most frequent formal and formal legal objections were incomplete or missing age-adapted patient information (49%) and incorrect templates for informed consent and signature forms (46%). A review of the 20 randomly selected applications from 2018–2019 confirmed that four out of the five most frequent deficiencies relating to informed consent were identical to those observed in the 2014–2015 applications. CONCLUSIONS Careful preparation of submission documents by the investigators and close adherence to formal and legal requirements have the potential to considerably optimise and expedite the EC review process, and thus the commencement of the clinical research.

Abstract Background Paediatric end-of-life care is challenging and requires a high level of professional expertise. It is important that healthcare teams have a thorough understanding of paediatric subspecialties and related knowledge of disease-specific aspects of paediatric end-of-life care. The aim of this study was to comprehensively describe, explore and compare current practices in paediatric end-of-life care in four distinct diagnostic groups across healthcare settings including all relevant levels of healthcare providers in Switzerland. Methods In this nationwide retrospective chart review study, data from paediatric patients who died in the years 2011 or 2012 due to a cardiac, neurological or oncological condition, or during the neonatal period were collected in 13 hospitals, two long-term institutions and 10 community-based healthcare service providers throughout Switzerland. Results Ninety-three (62%) of the 149 reviewed patients died in intensive care units, 78 (84%) of them following withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment. Reliance on invasive medical interventions was prevalent, and the use of medication was high, with a median count of 12 different drugs during the last week of life. Patients experienced an average number of 6.42 symptoms. The prevalence of various types of symptoms differed significantly among the four diagnostic groups. Overall, our study patients stayed in the hospital for a median of six days during their last four weeks of life. Seventy-two patients (48%) stayed at home for at least one day and only half of those received community-based healthcare. Conclusions The study provides a wide-ranging overview of current end-of-life care practices in a real-life setting of different healthcare providers. The inclusion of patients with all major diagnoses leading to disease- and prematurity-related childhood deaths, as well as comparisons across the diagnostic groups, provides additional insight and understanding for healthcare professionals. The provision of specialised palliative and end-of-life care services in Switzerland, including the capacity of community healthcare services, need to be expanded to meet the specific needs of seriously ill children and their families.

PURPOSE:The five point Deauville (D) scale is widely used to assess interim PET metabolic response to chemotherapy in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) patients. An International Validation Study reported good concordance among reviewers in ABVD treated advanced stage HL patients for the binary discrimination between score D1,2,3 and score D4,5. Inter-reader reliability of the whole scale is not well characterised. METHODS:Five international expert readers scored 100 interim PET/CT scans from paediatric HL patients. Scans were acquired in 51 European hospitals after two courses of OEPA chemotherapy (according to the EuroNet-PHL-C1 study). Images were interpreted in direct comparison with staging PET/CTs. RESULTS:The probability that two random readers concord on the five point D score of a random case is only 42% (global kappa = 0.24). Aggregating to a three point scale D1,2 vs. D3 vs. D4,5 improves concordance to 60% (kappa = 0.34). Concordance if one of two readers assigns a given score is 70% for score D1,2 only 36% for score D3 and 64% for D4,5. Concordance for the binary decisions D1,2 vs. D3,4,5 is 67% and 86% for D1,2,3 vs D4,5 (kappa = 0.36 resp. 0.56). If one reader assigns D1,2,3 concordance probability is 92%, but only 64% if D4,5 is called. Discrepancies occur mainly in mediastinum, neck and skeleton. CONCLUSION:Inter-reader reliability of the five point D-scale is poor in this interobserver analysis of paediatric patients who underwent OEPA. Inter-reader variability is maximal in cases assigned to D2 or D3. The binary distinction D1,2,3 versus D4,5 is the most reliable criterion for clinical decision making.

QUESTIONS UNDER STUDY: Completeness is important in cancer registration. Identifying areas to improve registry procedures might help to maximise completeness. We examined characteristics of childhood cancer cases that were registered via death certificate notification (DCN) rather than during life, and estimated completeness of the Swiss Childhood Cancer Registry (SCCR). METHODS: We analysed data from all children who died from cancer in Switzerland between 1985–2009 at age

Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia is a rare myeloproliferative disease in young children. While hematopoietic stem cell transplantation remains the only curative therapeutic option for most patients, children with juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia increasingly receive novel agents in phase I–II clinical trials as pre-transplant therapy or therapy for relapse after transplantation. However, response criteria or definitions of outcome for standardized evaluation of treatment effect in patients with juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia are currently lacking. Here we propose criteria to evaluate the response to the non-transplant therapy and definitions of remission status after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. For the evaluation of non-transplant therapy, we defined 6 clinical variables (white blood cell count, platelet count, hematopoietic precursors and blasts in peripheral blood, bone marrow blast percentage, spleen size and extramedullary disease) and 3 genetic variables (cytogenetic, molecular and chimerism response) which serve to describe the heterogeneous picture of response to therapy in each individual case. It is hoped that these criteria will facilitate the comparison of results between clinical trials in juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia.