Cohort Profile: The St. Jude Lifetime Cohort Study (SJLIFE) for paediatric cancer survivors

Innovations in the understanding of childhood cancer biology, treatment and supportive care have dramatically improved cure rates such that 84% of newly diagnosed children and adolescents in high-income countries are expected to survive beyond 5-years from diagnosis. 1 As a result, the number of childhood cancer survivors living in the USA surpassed 420 000 in 2013 1 and is anticipated to approach 500 000 by 2020. 2 The medical success manifest by this growing population has been realized at a cost, however, as many survivors experience adverse health outcomes related to cancer and its treatment. [3][4][5][6] In addition to chronic morbidity, survivors experience premature mortality compared to age-and sex-matched controls. [7][8][9][10] Current understanding of late health outcomes in adult survivors of childhood cancer has largely been the result of a number of cohort studies that have been instrumental in identifying, quantifying and characterizing cancer treatment-related health risks. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Health outcomes research findings have had a major influence on changes in paediatric cancer therapy and have informed health-screening strategies of childhood cancer survivors.