Sleep Disorders in Children With Cancer

Approximately three-fourths of all pediatric cancer patients will be long-term survivors; however, there can be a steep cost for cancer survivorship. Cancer treatment involves exposure to chemotherapy, surgical intervention, and radiation, which can cause lasting long-term toxicities. Children with brain tumors have the highest prevalence of long-term morbidities. These effects can be attributed to direct neurologic damage to the developing brain caused by tumor, hydrocephalus, surgical removal of the tumor, and the effects of irradiation. The late effects experienced by childhood cancer survivors involve multiple domains, one of which is sleep disorders. Sleep dysfunction has an increased prevalence in the pediatric cancer survivor population. These issues are disruptive to patients and cause a decrease in quality of life. This review focuses on sleep disorders that occur in pediatric cancer survivors and discusses the possible causes, the assessments used to determine specific sleep disorders, and treatment modalities used to ameliorate this dysfunction with the hope of improving patient's quality of life.