Leaving the parental home, cohabitation, and marriage after a hematologic malignancy in childhood: A register-based cohort study from the SALiCCS research program

Abstract

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.