Children who survive cancer are at greater risk of being unemployed when they reach adulthood, according to a new study, which suggests that the long-term effects of treatment include economic hardship.

Researchers in the U.S. evaluated more than 5,800 adults aged 25 years and older who had survived childhood cancers. For their study, which was released earlier this week, the researchers were trying to determine how the subjects' physical, mental and neurocognitive function impacted their employment status.

They found that the adult childhood cancer survivors who were in poor physical health were eight times more likely to be unemployed than the survivors who were in good health.

Of study subjects who were employed:

• those with neurocognitive impairments were less likely to have a professional career and were more likely to have a part-time or lower-skilled job.
• women with neurocognitive impairments were more likely to be working in lower-skilled jobs compared to men with the same limitations.

The researchers evaluated their subjects' health by asking them to fill out standard questionnaires.

Lead researcher Anne Kirchhoff, a postdoctoral fellow at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, said previous research has shown that childhood cancer survivors are more likely to be unemployed compared to adults who were healthy as children.

The finding of greatest surprise to the researchers, Kirchhoff said, was the strong link between poor physical health and unemployment. As well, survivors who are unemployed or who have tenuous employment may have inadequate health insurance, which would impact their efforts to manage the long-term effects of their illness.

"Childhood cancer survivors should be educated about the risks, be screened for any limitations, and learn strategies to manage those limitations in an effort to ensure they have more successful employment outcomes," Kirchhoff said.

The findings are published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

The study comes as no surprise to Kyle Angelow, whose cancer diagnosis at age 5 was followed by a year of chemotherapy and 11 operations to remove cancerous tumours from his bones.

Angelow, now 19, said the treatment he endured "saved my life."

But he is plagued by fatigue and cannot stand for very long, symptoms that will limit his employment options to jobs that don't require physical exertion.

"Anything where I'm doing physical labour I guess you could say is just kind of out of the question for me now," Angelow told CTV News.

Data shows that more than 80 per cent of children with cancer now survive to adulthood. Experts say that means researchers should focus their efforts on support mechanisms to help the patients cope with the long-term effects of their treatment, including counselling programs and treatments with fewer side effects.

"You have to look at the cure that cures the kid, and how difficult is it on their bodies and what can we do to develop kinder and gentler treatments," Megan Davidson, of Childhood Cancer Canada, told CTV News.

Angelow will start university in September and hopes to establish a career as a sports broadcaster, if his health will allow it.

"I can definitely attest to the cancer drugs affecting people's lives way past the actual cancer itself," he said.

With a report from CTV's medical specialist Avis Favaro and producer Elizabeth St. Philip