A new study in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, looks at the risk of hospitalization in people who survived cancer during their childhood and adolescent years. The research team found that, although they beat cancer, these individuals often faced poorer health throughout their life. Later in life, childhood cancer survivors often experienced greater risk of hospitalization for longer periods of time.

According to HealthDay News, researchers looked at nearly 1,500 people who were treated for childhood cancer between 1975 and 2005, and a group of more than 7,700 people who never had cancer. In the cancer group, they had been cancer-free for at least five years.

Compared to the control group, childhood cancer survivors were 52 percent more likely to be hospitalized and had a 67 percent higher number of hospital admissions. The cancer survivors were also 35 percent more likely to have stayed longer every time they were hospitalized.

Survivors of some types of cancer faced an even higher risk. More than 10 percent of people who survived central nervous system tumors, neuroblastoma, or bone tumors during childhood were hospitalized five or more times during the study period. Admission rates for this group were double the rate of the control group, a much higher disparity than the average found in the study.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) reports that, as of 2010, there are more than 370,000 childhood cancer survivors in the U.S. The most common childhood cancers are leukemia, brain tumors and other central nervous system cancers, as well as lymphoma. Of these, leukemia is the highest at 26 percent of childhood cancers.