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ABSTRACT Purpose The National Cancer Institute-funded cooperative oncology group trials have improved overall survival for children with cancer from 10% to 85% and have set standards of care for adults with malignancies. Despite these successes, cooperative oncology groups currently face substantial challenges. We are working to develop methods to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of these trials. Specifically, we merged data from the Children's Oncology Group (COG) and the Pediatric Health Information Systems (PHIS) to improve toxicity monitoring, to estimate treatment-associated resource utilization and costs, and to address important clinical epidemiology questions. Methods COG and PHIS data on patients enrolled on a phase III COG trial for de novo acute myeloid leukemia at 43 PHIS hospitals were merged using a probabilistic algorithm. Resource utilization summary statistics were then tabulated for the first chemotherapy course based on PHIS data. Results Of 416 patients enrolled on the phase III COG trial at PHIS centers, 392 (94%) were successfully matched. Of these, 378 (96%) had inpatient PHIS data available beginning at the date of study enrollment. For these, daily blood product usage and anti-infective exposures were tabulated and standardized costs were described. Conclusions These data demonstrate that patients enrolled in a cooperative group oncology trial can be successfully identified in an administrative data set and that supportive care resource utilization can be described. Further work is required to optimize the merging algorithm, map resource utilization metrics to the National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria for monitoring toxicity, to perform comparative effectiveness studies, and to estimate the costs associated with protocol therapy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the importance of adverse event (AE) reporting, AEs are under-reported on clinical trials. We hypothesized that electronic medical record (EMR) data can ascertain laboratory-based AEs more accurately than those ascertained manually. EMR data on 12 AEs for patients enrolled on two Children's Oncology Group (COG) trials at one institution were extracted, processed and graded. When compared to gold standard chart data, COG AE report sensitivity and positive predictive values (PPV) were 0-21·1% and 20-100%, respectively. EMR sensitivity and PPV were >98·2% for all AEs. These results demonstrate that EMR-based AE ascertainment and grading substantially improves laboratory AE reporting accuracy., (© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Black patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) experience higher mortality than White patients. We compared induction mortality, acuity of illness prior to chemotherapy, and insurance type between Black and White patients to assess whether acuity of presentation mediates the disparity. Within a retrospective cohort of 1,122 children with AML treated with two courses of standard induction chemotherapy between 2004 and 2014 in the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) database, the association between race (Black versus White) and inpatient mortality during induction was examined. Intensive Care Unit (ICU)-level resource utilization during the first 72 hours following admission for initial AML chemotherapy was evaluated as a potential mediator. The total effect of race on mortality during Induction I revealed a strong association (unadjusted HR 2.75, CI: 1.18, 6.41). Black patients had a significantly higher unadjusted risk of requiring ICU-level resources within the first 72 hours after initial presentation (17% versus 11%; RR 1.52, CI: 1.04, 2.24). Mediation analyses revealed the indirect effect of race through acuity accounted for 61% of the relative excess mortality during Induction I. Publicly insured patients experienced greater induction mortality than privately insured patients regardless of race. Black patients with AML have significantly greater risk of induction mortality and are at increased risk for requiring ICU-level resources soon after presentation. Higher acuity amongst Black patients accounts for a substantial portion of the relative excess mortality during Induction I. Targeting factors affecting acuity of illness at presentation may lessen racial disparities in AML induction mortality., (© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Although inferior outcomes of children with Down syndrome (DS) and acute lymphoid leukaemia (ALL) are established, national supportive care patterns for these patients are unknown. A validated retrospective cohort of paediatric patients diagnosed with ALL from 1999 to 2011 was assembled from the US Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) database to examine organ toxicity, sepsis, and resource utilization in children with and without DS. Among 10699 ALL patients, 298 had DS-ALL (2·8%). In a multivariate model, DS was associated with increased risk of cardiovascular (odds ratio [OR] 2·0, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1·6-2·7), respiratory (OR 2·1, 95% CI: 1·6-2·9), neurologic (OR 3·4, 95% CI 1·9-6·2), and hepatic (OR 1·4, 95% CI 1·0-1·9) dysfunction and sepsis (OR 1·8, 95% CI: 1·4-2·4). Children with DS-ALL used significantly more respiratory support, insulin, and anti-infectives, including broad-spectrum Gram-positive agents, quinolones, and azoles. They used significantly fewer analgesics and antiemetics compared to non-DS-ALL children. Ultimately, this study confirms the increased risk of infectious and end-organ toxicity in children with DS-ALL and quantifies important differences in resource utilization between children with DS and non-DS ALL. These findings highlight the importance of investigating the impact of these care variations and developing specific supportive care guidelines for this population., (© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

This study described infection-related supportive care practices amongst centres participating in two large paediatric acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) cooperative groups, Children's Oncology Group (COG) and Berlin-Frankfurt-Muenster (BFM). We surveyed 216 COG and 55 BFM institutions. The overall survey response rate was 83.8%. Antibacterial prophylaxis was more common among BFM (15/46, 32.6%) compared to COG (24/180, 13.3%, P < 0.0001) institutions. Antifungal prophylaxis also was more common among BFM (42/46, 91.3%) compared to COG (137/178, 77.0%, P = 0.03). There were systematic differences in infection-related supportive care practices. This information may be used to encourage harmonization of supportive care practices and future randomized trials.

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a syndrome with significant morbidity and mortality, but its genetic susceptibility is not clearly understood. In the present study, we characterized functional promoter single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the phase II antioxidant gene NQO1 (NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase1) to evaluate its role in susceptibility to ALI. Three previously uncharacterized SNPs in the NQO1 promoter were selected for investigation. Luciferase assays were performed using constructs of each promoter polymorphism to evaluate function. Functional SNPs were genotyped in a prospective cohort of major trauma patients (N = 264) and assessed for association with development of ALI. The A/C SNP at -1221 decreased in vitro transcription of NQO1 at baseline and after exposure to hyperoxia and other oxidant stressors. Patients heterozygous for the -1221 C allele were at significantly lesser risk of ALI after major trauma compared with patients with wild-type alleles, even after adjustment for APACHE III score, and mechanism of trauma [OR, 0.46 (95% CI 0.23, 0.90); P = 0.024]. This study demonstrated that the AC genotype at position -1221 in the NQO1 gene caused decreased transcription and was associated with a lower incidence of ALI following major trauma. These novel findings may have important implications in diseases with oxidant stress aetiologies.

This retrospective cohort study aimed at determining whether overweight children undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) had inferior overall survival compared with children who were not overweight. Children >/=2 years of age who received allogeneic SCT were included. Overweight was defined as a body mass index >/= 95th percentile; 54/325 (17%) children were overweight. Overall survival at 5 years was significantly inferior at 46.6 +/- 7.3% in the overweight group compared with 59.5 +/- 3.2% in the non-overweight group (P = 0.02). Our study demonstrated that overweight children who undergo allogeneic SCT had inferior survival compared with children who were not overweight.

Interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1alpha) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that is implicated in the initiation/maintenance of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and the immune response to infection. A cytosine (C) to thymine (T) transition at position -889 is believed to influence gene transcription. A previous single institution study showed that the presence of at least one IL1A T allele in the donor was associated with improved survival after unrelated donor haematopoietic stem cell transplant and lower transplant-related mortality if the donor and recipient each possessed the IL1A T allele. The present study sought to confirm these results in a larger homogeneous population. Thus the study population included 426 patients older than 18 years with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), transplanted in first chronic phase and receiving a total body irradiation and cyclophosphamide preparative regimen. Donor recipient pairs were categorised into four groups according to the presence or absence of an IL1A T allele in the donor and recipient. There were no significant differences in patient, donor and transplant characteristics between the groups. We did not observe an association with IL-1alpha genotype in donor and/or recipient and transplant-outcome. These data suggest that the outcome of unrelated donor transplant for CML is not influenced by IL-1alpha genotype.

Present day paediatric co-operative group acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) protocols cure approximately 80% of patients, a result achieved largely through the use of risk-stratified therapies that employ multiple chemotherapy agents. These risk-based therapies utilize host and leukaemia traits to select the most appropriate therapy. However, these risk-stratified approaches predict therapy response imperfectly and an important fraction of patients experience relapse or therapy-related toxicity. Pharmacogenetics, the study of genetic variations in drug-processing genes and individual responses to drugs, may enable the improved identification of patients at higher risk for either disease relapse or chemotherapy-associated side effects. While the impact of genetic variation in the thiopurine-S-methyltransferase gene on ALL treatment outcome and toxicity has been extensively studied, the role of other polymorphisms remains less well known. This review summarizes current research on the impact of genetic variation in drug-processing genes in paediatric ALL and reviews important methodological and statistical issues presently challenging the field of pharmacogenetics.

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is the most common paediatric cancer with a cure rate of approximately 80%. Relapse occurs despite treatment stratification based on clinical criteria. Relapse risk in ALL may be related to simple nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of enzymes that metabolize chemotherapeutic agents. We evaluated whether SNPs in the cytochrome P450 3A family (CYP3A4*1B, CYP3A5*3 and CYP3A5*6) were associated with relapse risk on a national Children's Cancer Group (CCG) paediatric ALL trial (CCG-1891). CCG-1891 enrolled 1204 patients, and obtained both relapse and toxicity data prospectively. One hundred and twenty-four relapsed patients and 409 non-relapsed patients were assayed for each SNP. CYP3A variants were not associated with an increased risk of relapse. However, patients with the CYP3A4*1B and CYP3A5*3 genotypes had a decreased risk of peripheral neuropathy that was statistically significant on univariate analysis. After correction for multiple comparisons, the association between CYP3A*1B and CYP3A5*3 genotypes approached, but did not reach, statistical significance. CYP3 genotypes may not significantly modify the risk of relapse in childhood ALL, but may modify the risk of toxicity.