Does distance to the hospital affect the course of treatment and follow-up for children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia?

Purpose: Centralization of specialized healthcare including treatment of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has increased in high-income countries. We aimed to clarify whether the distance to the hospital for children with ALL affects the course of treatment regarding the number and duration of hospitalizations, outpatient clinic visits, missed appointments in the outpatient clinic, the duration of follow-up, or survival.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of children diagnosed with ALL aged 0-14 at Aalborg University Hospital from 1996 to 2018.