Factors influencing fear of cancer recurrence among prostate cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

PurposeTo identify and quantify the influence factors of fear of cancer recurrence among prostate cancer patients through meta-analysis.DesignA systematic review and meta-analysis followed by the PRISMA2020 checklist.MethodsWe searched PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, CNKI, CMAPH, VIP, and Wanfang databases, along with manual retrieval, to identify relevant studies published from 1981 to November 2023. Two independent reviewers screened the literature, extracted data, and assessed study quality. Meta-analysis was conducted using R 4.2.3 software.ResultsA total of 5031 studies were identified through database searches and manual retrieval. After removing duplicates and screening titles, abstracts, and full texts, 19 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final analysis. The meta-analysis revealed a significant association between fear of cancer recurrence among prostate cancer patients and age (odds ratio = 0.9084), partnership (1.0462), income (0.9076), employment status (1.0799), education (0.8146), treatment (2.0567), time since diagnosis (1.5252), stage of disease (1.6895), biochemical recurrence (3.2214), hormone function (0.8042), urinary function (1.1271), Gleason score (2.9419), quality of life (0.5704), self-rated health (0.6711), social support (1.2149), anxiety (2.1002), depression (2.8319), negative emotion (2.0835), and hope level (1.2363).ConclusionOur findings considerably enhance the understanding of the influencing factors of fear of cancer recurrence of patients with prostate cancer. The insights this study provides can enable health-care providers to apply quick and effective assessment tools to identify high-risk patients with fear of cancer recurrence early and thereby support the personalized interventions to reduce it, promoting overall health.