Cited by 253Cancer survivorship and careChildhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of LifeWomen's cancer prevention and management

Fear of recurrence in long-term breast cancer survivors-still an issue. Results on prevalence, determinants, and the association with quality of life and depression from the Cancer Survivorship-a multi-regional population-based study

Koch, Lena, Bertram, Heike, Eberle, Andrea, Holleczek, Bernd, Schmid-Höpfner, Sieglinde, Waldmann, Annika, Zeissig, Sylke R., Brenner, Hermann +1 more·2014·Psycho-Oncology

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Fear of recurrence (FoR) is a widespread problem among breast cancer survivors. So far, little is known about prevalence, determinants, and consequences of FoR specifically in long-term breast cancer survivors, even though it was found to be one of the most important concerns in this group. METHODS: Analyses are based on data of several population-based cohorts of long-term breast cancer survivors, recruited by six German cancer registries. Overall, 2671 women were included in the analyses. FoR was assessed using the short form of the Fear of Progression Questionnaire. Potential determinants of moderate/high FoR and the association with depression and quality of life (QoL) were explored via multiple logistic and linear regression. RESULTS: Even though the majority of women reported low levels of FoR (82%), a substantial percentage experienced moderate (11%) and high (6%) FoR. Younger age (odds ratio = 3.00, confidence intervals = 1.91-4.73 for women below age 55 years) and considering oneself as a tumor patient (odds ratio = 3.36, confidence intervals = 2.66-4.25) were found to exhibit the strongest associations with moderate/high FoR. Overall, psychosocial and sociodemographic factors played a far bigger role in FoR than clinical factors. Higher FoR was associated with higher depression and lower QoL. CONCLUSION: Fear of recurrence (mostly low levels) is highly prevalent among long-term breast cancer survivors and can negatively affect QoL and well-being. Therefore, it should be given appropriate consideration in research and clinical practice. As specifically younger women tended to be impacted by FoR, it is crucial to be particularly attentive to specific needs of younger survivors.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1002/pon.3452

Cites

40 of 40 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

1 of the 41 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Koch, L., Bertram, H., Eberle, A., Holleczek, B., Schmid-Höpfner, S., Waldmann, A., Zeissig, S. R., Brenner, H., & Arndt, V.
Affiliations
  • Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Aging Research; German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ); Heidelberg Germany
  • Cancer Registry of North Rhine-Westphalia (Münster region); Münster Germany
  • Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology - BIPS (DE)
  • Krebsregister Saarland (DE)
  • Hamburg Cancer Registry; Hamburg Germany
  • University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (DE)
  • Cancer Registry Rhineland-Palatinate; Mainz Germany
  • German Cancer Research Center (DE)
Venue
Psycho-Oncology
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2013-11-30
Volume
23
Issue
5
Pages
547-554
ISSN
1057-9249 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1950179185
Cited by
253
References
41
Citations by year
2026: 16 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 10
FWCI
7.32
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Psycho-Oncology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
the German Cancer Aid (108262)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of Life
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Women's cancer prevention and management
Keywords
fear of recurrence, breast cancer survivors, long-term survivors, prevalence, risk factors, quality of life, depression, young women, psychosocial factors, sociodemographic factors
MeSH terms
Adult, Age Factors, Aged, Breast Neoplasms, Depression, Fear, Female, Humans, Middle Aged, Neoplasm Recurrence, Local, Quality of Life, Risk Factors, Cohort Studies, Prevalence, Odds Ratio, Survivors

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review