| BARCELONA
(Reuters) - Children whose parents have cancer often
suffer post-traumatic stress symptoms that adults
underestimate, Dutch researchers said on Wednesday.
The study, which the researchers said was the first
to track post traumatic stress symptoms in adolescents
over an extended period of time, found many children
of cancer patients suffered telltale signs of the
disorder.
These symptoms included recurring nightmares, an
inability to stop thinking about the disease as
well as conscious efforts to avoid hearing or knowing
anything about their parent's condition, they told
the European Cancer Conference.
"We thought the symptoms would decline after
time but even after one to five years after the
diagnosis, the children still had symptoms,"
said Gea Huizinga, a health scientist at the University
Medical Centre in Groningen, who led the study.
Experts say post traumatic stress disorder symptoms
include irritability or outbursts of anger, sleep
difficulties, trouble concentrating, extreme vigilance
and an exaggerated startle response. A person may
initially respond to the trauma with horror or helplessness,
then may persistently relive the event.
The recently completed study did not actually test
whether children had the disorder but rather looked
for symptoms of PTSD in 49 youths aged 11 to 18
years old starting during the first year after a
parent's cancer diagnosis.
After first learning a parent had cancer, 29 percent
of the children showed post traumatic stress symptoms
serious enough to justify psychological help, the
researchers said.
This number dropped by the end of the first year
as kids seemed to adjust to the fact a parent had
cancer, especially if the parent's health improved,
Huizinga said.
But surprisingly, as time wore on, another group
of children started showing an increase of symptoms,
perhaps due to the cancer returning or having the
time to think more -- and fret -- about the disease,
she added.
"We thought the symptoms would decline over
time," Huizinga said.
The study also found that girls seemed to have
the most problems, perhaps because these children
may feel responsible for taking on more duties at
home with a sick parent, Huizinga said.
The team also suggested that the effect on children
whose parents have cancer was bigger than many serious,
chronic diseases because dying from cancer was so
possible.
"We think cancer may have more impact because
a parent might die of the disease," Huizinga
said. "With a lot of chronic diseases that
is often not the case."
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