Assessment of proxy-reported responses as predictors of motor and sensory peripheral neuropathy in children with B-lymphoblastic leukemia

Rodwin RL, DelRocco NJ, Hibbitts E, Devidas M, Whitley MK, Mohrmann CE, Schore RJ, Raetz E, Winick NJ, Hunger SP, Loh ML, Hockenberry MJ, Ma X, Angiolillo AL, Ness KK, Kairalla JA, Kadan-Lottick NS. Assessment of proxy-reported responses as predictors of motor and sensory peripheral neuropathy in children with B-lymphoblastic leukemia. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2023 Nov;70(11):e30634. doi: 10.1002/pbc.30634. Epub 2023 Aug 17. PubMed PMID: 37592363; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10552080.

Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), a common condition in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, can be challenging to diagnose. Using data from Children’s Oncology Group AALL0932 physical function study we sought to determine if parent/guardian proxy-reported responses from the Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument could identify children with motor or sensory CIPN diagnosed by physical/occupational therapists (PT/OT). Four variables moderately discriminated between children with and without motor CIPN (c-index 0.76 [95% CI 0.64–0.84]), but sensory and optimism corrected models had weak discrimination (c-index sensory models 0.65 [95% CI 0.54–0.74]. New proxy-report measures are needed to identify children with PT/OT diagnosed CIPN.