The role of interpretation biases and symptom burden in fear of cancer recurrence/progression among ovarian cancer survivors

Background Models of fear of cancer recurrence or progression (FCR/P) suggest that the way in which people interpret ambiguous physical symptoms is an important contributor to the development and maintenance of FCR/P, but research has not investigated this claim. The aim of this study is to fill that gap. Methods This was a cross-sectional study. Sixty-two women with ovarian cancer reported completed measures of FCR/P, an interpretation bias task and a symptom checklist. The healthy control group (n = 96) completed the interpretation bias task. Results Women with ovarian cancer were more likely to interpret ambiguous words as health-related compared to healthy women (p d = 1.28). In women with cancer, FCR/P was associated with overall symptom burden (r = 0.25; p = 0.04) and interpretation bias score (r = 0.41; p = 0.001), but interpretation bias and symptom burden were not related (r = 0.22; p = 0.09). Interpretation bias did not moderate the relationship between symptoms and FCR/P. Conclusions We found that women with ovarian cancer interpreted ambiguous words as health related more often compared to women without cancer, and this bias was greater for women with higher FCR/P. Symptom burden was also associated with FCR/P. However, interpretation bias did not moderate the relationship between physical symptoms and FCR/P. Hence, the central tenet of the Cancer Threat Interpretation model was not supported in women with ovarian cancer.