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Introduction: Transitioning to adulthood often involves achieving independence from the parental home. We assessed whether the likelihood of leaving the parental home, cohabitation, and marriage was similar between patients who experienced a hematologic malignancy at a young age and their peers., Methods: We identified 11,575 patients diagnosed with a hematologic malignancy under the age of 20 years between 1971 and 2011 in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, 57,727 country-, age-, and sex-matched population comparisons and 11,803 sibling comparisons and obtained annual information on family and marital status by linking to the statistical institute databases. Hazard ratios (HR) for leaving the parental home, cohabitation and marriage were estimated using Cox proportional hazards modeling., Results: Young adults with a history of a hematologic malignancy were slightly less likely to leave the parental home (HR 0.89; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.86-0.92; HR 0.87 [95% CI 0.82-0.92]), cohabit with a nonmarital partner (HR 0.83 [95%CI 0.78-0.87]; HR 0.84 [95% CI 0.77-0.92]) and be married (HR 0.87 [95% CI 0.82-0.91]; HR 0.86 [95% CI 0.79-0.93]), compared with population comparisons and siblings, respectively., Conclusions: Our findings provide reassurance that young adults with a history of a hematologic malignancy show only a slight decrease in their likelihood of gaining independence from their childhood family and forming close interpersonal relationships compared to peers. While most patients are coping well in the long term, integrating structured psychosocial support into long-term follow-up is recommended to facilitate a timely and adequate transition into adulthood., (© 2024 The Author(s). Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Childhood cancer survivors face various adverse consequences. This Nordic register-based cohort study aimed to assess whether survivors of childhood cancer are more likely to have low income than their peers., Methods: We identified 17,392 childhood cancer survivors diagnosed at ages 0 to 19 between 1971 and 2009 with 83,221 age-, sex-, and country-matched population comparisons. Annual disposable income at ages 20 to 50 years was retrieved from statistical offices (for 1990-2017) and categorized into low income and middle/high income. The number of transitions between income categories were assessed using binomial regression analyses., Results: The prevalence of annual low income among childhood cancer survivors was 18.1% and 15.6% among population comparisons (risk ratio [RR] 1.17; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.16-1.18). Compared to population comparisons, childhood cancer survivors were 10% (95% CI 8%-11%) less likely to transition from low to middle/high income and 12% (10%-15%) more likely to transition from middle/high to low income during follow-up. Among those initially in the low income category, survivors were 7% (95% CI 3%-11%) more likely to remain in the low income category. If the initial category was middle/high income, childhood cancer survivors were 10% (95% CI 8%-11%) less likely to remain in the middle/high income and 45% (37%-53%) more likely to transition to the low income category permanently., Conclusions: Childhood cancer survivors are at higher risk for low income in adulthood than their peers. These disparities might be reduced by continued career counseling along with support in managing within the social security system., (© 2023 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent mitigation strategies have varied across the Nordic countries. In a joint Nordic population-based effort, we compared patterns of new cancer cases and notifications between the Nordic countries during 2020. We used pathology notifications to cancer registries in Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden to determine monthly numbers of pathology notifications of malignant and in situ tumours from January to December 2020 compared to 2019 (2017-2019 for Iceland and the Faroe Islands). We compared new cancer cases per month based on unique individuals with pathology notifications. In April and May 2020, the numbers of new malignant cases declined in all Nordic countries, except the Faroe Islands, compared to previous year(s). The largest reduction was observed in Sweden (May: -31.2%, 95% CI -33.9, -28.3), followed by significant declines in Finland, Denmark and Norway, and a nonsignificant decline in Iceland. In Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland the reporting rates during the second half of 2020 rose to almost the same level as in 2019. However, in Sweden and Finland, the increase did not compensate for the spring decline (annual reduction -6.2% and -3.6%, respectively). Overall, similar patterns were observed for in situ tumours. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a decline in rates of new cancer cases in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway, with the most pronounced reduction in Sweden. Possible explanations include the severity of the pandemic, temporary halting of screening activities and changes in healthcare seeking behaviour., (© 2022 The Authors. International Journal of Cancer published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of UICC.)