Environmental Health Guidance: Essential for Pediatric Oncology Patients?
After a pediatric cancer diagnosis, parents and caregivers are often provided with a wealth of information to help adjust to a “new normal.” While this remains a critical part of comprehensive care, environmental health guidance may currently be an underdeveloped resource in aiding families in the survivorship journey. As cancer's links to environmental factors have been well established over several decades, such information may now assist children during the continuum of survivorship and bring together various aspects of their post-treatment care.
In the United States, only 5–10% of the most common cancers are inherited, leaving 90–95% attributable to environmental and lifestyle factors. The National Cancer Institute's (NCI) “Facing Forward: Life after Cancer Treatment” resource booklet states that, “After cancer treatment, many survivors want to find ways to reduce the chances of their cancer coming back. Some worry that the way they eat, the stress in their lives, or their exposure to chemicals may put them at risk”. Read more