Healthcare use and fear of recurrence in adult cancer survivors at 2.5 years after a cancer diagnosis: a nationwide register study in Denmark.

• Tác giả: Henry Jensen, Anette Fischer Pedersen, Linda Aagaard Rasmussen, Peter Vedsted
• Ngôn ngữ: eng
• Ký hiệu phân loại: 149.73 Skepticism
• Thông tin xuất bản: United States : Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice , 2025
• Bộ sưu tập: NCBI
• ID: 52246

Tóm tắt

PURPOSE: To investigate the association between fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) and healthcare use in general practice among cancer survivors. METHODS: We linked nationwide register data to survey data on FCR in cancer survivors at 2.5 years after a cancer diagnosis. Multiple regression models were used to analyse the association between high FCR level and quartiles of healthcare use at 18-30 months before the cancer diagnosis (habitual healthcare use) and between high FCR level and healthcare use at 18-30 months after the cancer diagnosis (survivorship healthcare use). RESULTS: We included 1538 cancer survivors in the study. High habitual healthcare use was associated with a high level of FCR (odds ratio = 2.07 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.36-3.15)) for the 4th quartile of healthcare use compared to the 1st quartile. A high FCR score was also associated with higher healthcare use during cancer survivorship (incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 1.26 (95% CI: 1.14-1.40)). This association remained statistically significant when adjusting for habitual healthcare use (IRR = 1.20 (95% CI: 1.09-1.33)). CONCLUSION: High healthcare use before the cancer diagnosis was associated with high FCR during survivorship. This indicates that FCR is partly explained by a general (pre-diagnostic) health concern. High FCR predicted high healthcare use during cancer survivorship, even when adjusting for habitual healthcare use. IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: Our results suggest that FCR in cancer survivors is triggered by a general high level of health concern, and the cancer diagnosis may further exacerbate this concern.