The pediatric population is highly impacted by brain tumours, as they are the most common type of solid tumour affecting children. Medical advances have improved the survival rate of children with brain tumours, but many survivors still experience late effects. In adulthood, 18% of pediatric brain tumour (PBT) survivors have reported cardiovascular issues such as strokes, blood clots, and angina, but little is known about the cardiovascular health of these survivors during childhood. The primary objective of this thesis was to measure the proportion of PBT survivors with values of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and aerobic fitness meeting the cut-offs associated with unfavourable cardiovascular health (BMI≥+2 SDs, WC≥90th percentile, and % peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) predicted<85%). The secondary objective was to observe the effects of 12 weeks of exercise training on the BMI, WC, blood pressure (BP), and aerobic fitness of PBT survivors and describe the feasibility of an exercise training program for this population. In this thesis, 32 PBT survivors who had all received cranial radiation were included (age=12.3±3.4 years, age at diagnosis=7.0±2.5 years, time since treatment completion=4.5±2.8 years, 21/32 male). While WC was measured for 13/32 participants, BMI and aerobic fitness were measured for all. Of the participants, 5/32 children completed a 12-week pilot exercise program consisting of two group and two in-home exercise sessions per week. A control group (n=2, age=14.8±3.6 years, 1/2 male) and an intervention group (n=5, age=15.0±2.3, 3/5 male) had BMI, WC, BP, and aerobic fitness measurements taken pre- and post-training. Of the participants, 15.6% (5/32) had a BMI≥+2 SDs, 30.7% had a WC≥90th percentile, and 86.7% had a %VO2peak predicted<85%. In total, 81% (26/32) of the participants had at least one identified biomarker reflecting unfavourable cardiovascular health. A training effect was only observed in BP (change of +9%). The exercise program was feasible with an adherence rate of 88% (21/24) to the group and in-home sessions. All (5/5) participants completed the program without injuries or adverse events during the training program. Findings from this thesis indicate that 81% brain tumour survivors have at least one biomarker indicating unfavourable cardiovascular health in childhood. This thesis also provides novel information to be considered before implementing exercise as a therapy for improving the cardiovascular health of survivors. Future additional research is required to determine the appropriate duration, frequency, and intensity of aerobic exercise to stimulate a training effect on these cardiovascular biomarkers. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Mémoire de maîtrise présenté en vue de l'obtention de la maîtrise en psychologie (M. Sc) / Introduction. Il est bien établi que les survivants tumeurs cérébrales pédiatriques (STCP) éprouvent des difficultés sociales, et la reconnaissance d’émotions faciales a été étudiée comme un mécanisme sous-jacent. Cependant, l'influence possible de la pandémie sur les capacités de reconnaissance des affects chez les STCP reste inexplorée. La présente étude visait à comparer la reconnaissance des émotions faciales (avec accès au visage complet versus seulement la région des yeux) entre les STCP et des jeunes à développement typique ainsi qu’à examiner son association avec l'adaptation sociale. Méthode. Des STCP (n=23) au moins un an après le traitement et des contrôles (n=24) entre 8 et 16 ans ont complété le sous-test de reconnaissance des affects du NEPSY-II (visage complet) et la version enfant du Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET, seulement le haut du visage). Résultats. Les groupes ne différaient pas sur leurs habiletés de reconnaissance d’émotions et ceux-ci n’étaient pas associés à leur adaptation sociale. Comparé aux normes pré-pandémie, notre échantillon avait plus de difficultés dans leur capacité de reconnaissance d’émotions avec visage complet ainsi qu’une meilleure performance avec seulement le haut du visage disponible (p < .05). Les participants ont aussi obtenu de meilleurs résultats au RMET qu’au NEPSY-II (p< .05). Conclusion. En somme, la pandémie semble avoir joué un rôle sur les capacités de reconnaissance des émotions faciales, tant chez les STCP que chez les contrôles, soulignant la nécessité d'études futures sur les effets à long terme de la pandémie sur les compétences sociales des jeunes. / Introduction. It is well-established that pediatric brain tumour survivors (PBTS) experience social difficulties, and facial emotion recognition has been studied as an underlying mechanism. However, the possible influence of the pandemic on affect recognition abilities in PBTS remains unexplored. The present study aimed to compare facial affect recognition (with full versus partial facial features) between PBTS and healthy controls (HC) and to examine its association with social adjustment. Method. PBTS (N=23, ages 8-16) at least one-year post-treatment and HC (N=24, ages 8-16) completed the NEPSY-II Affect Recognition subtest (full face) and the child version of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET, upper face only). Results. The groups did not differ in their ability to recognize emotions, and these were not associated with social adjustment. Compared with pre-pandemic norms, our sample had a lower performance in their emotion recognition ability with full face and a better performance with only upper face (p < .05). Participants also performed better on the RMET than on the NEPSY-II (p< .05). Conclusion. In sum, the pandemic appears to have played a role in facial emotion recognition abilities in both PBTS and controls, highlighting the need for future studies on the pandemic long-term effects on young people's social skills.