ArticleThe oncologist2021
Prevalence and Tolerance of Prognostic Uncertainty Among Thoracic Oncologists.
Article in The oncologist, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Improving communication of prognostic uncertainty in advanced illness: a realist review.BMJ open · 2026Pooled it
- The Heidelberg Decision Aid for Patients With Lung Cancer (HELP)—Findings of a Randomized Controlled Trial.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2024Trial
- Improving the palliative-procedure decision-making process for patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis: A secondary analysis.Gynecologic oncology · 2024Trial
- Increasing challenges of general practitioner-oncologist interaction in end-of-life communication: a qualitative study.BMC palliative care · 2025Article
- Article
- Prognostic Awareness, Palliative Care Use, and Barriers to Palliative Care in Patients Undergoing Immunotherapy or Chemo-Immunotherapy for Metastatic Lung Cancer.Journal of palliative medicine · 2023Article
- Oncologist approaches to communicating uncertain disease status in pediatric cancer: a qualitative study.BMC cancer · 2022Article
- Prospective Comparison of Medical Oncologists and a Machine Learning Model to Predict 3-Month Mortality in Patients With Metastatic Solid Tumors.JAMA network open · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We undertook a cross-sectional survey of a random sample of thoracic oncologists from the American Society of Clinical Oncology clinical directory to characterize whether prognostic uncertainty has increased and if tolerance of uncertainty is associated with prognostic discussion practices. We also assessed the Physicians' Reactions to Uncertainty Scale and presented a vignette about an incurable patient with uncertain life expectancy. One hundred and ninety-two of 438 surveys (43.8%) were received. Of the respondents, 52.1% agreed "there is more prognostic uncertainty in the management of lung cancer now than 10 years ago," and 37.4% noted difficulty "staying up-to-date." In multivariable analyses, physician-reported anxiety about uncertainty (p = .05) and reluctance to disclose uncertainty (p = .04) were inversely associated with reporting having prognostic discussions with most patients. For the vignette, 92.1% reported they would discuss incurability, but only 76.3% said they would discuss the patient's life expectancy. Our data suggest prognostic uncertainty has increased in thoracic oncology and oncologists' tolerance of uncertainty may affect discussion practices.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.