ArticlePsycho-oncology2022
Psychological distress, understanding of cancer and illness uncertainty in patients with Cancer of Unknown Primary.
Article in Psycho-oncology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Digital Health Interventions to Improve Mental Health in Patients With Cancer: Umbrella Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- New techniques to identify the tissue of origin for cancer of unknown primary in the era of precision medicine: progress and challenges.Briefings in bioinformatics · 2024Pooled it
- Managing psychological distress in women with breast cancer: A systematic review of intervention trends in the past decade.Asia-Pacific journal of oncology nursing · 2026Review
- Social alienation among people with bladder cancer: A combined structural equation modeling and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis.Asia-Pacific journal of oncology nursing · 2026Article
- "The uncharted waters of completely not knowing what's next": rare cancer patients' experiences regarding navigating uncertainty.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Integrating artificial intelligence into cancers of unknown primary diagnosis and treatment.iScience · 2026Review
- Development and Validation of a Machine Learning-Based Prediction Model for Illness Uncertainty in Patients with Malignant Tumors.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- A review, evaluation and content mapping study of Australian patient-facing online pancreatobiliary cancer resources.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Review
- Pathologist-initiated whole genome and transcriptome sequencing demonstrates diagnostic utility in resolving difficult-to-diagnose tumors.Genome medicine · 2025Article
- Defining and Assessing Distress in Oncology Patients: A Systematic Review of the Literature.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Deep learning-based classifier for carcinoma of unknown primary using methylation quantitative trait loci.Journal of neuropathology and experimental neurology · 2025Article
- Article
- A structural equation model study on the influencing factors of sleep disorders in patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Article
- Intervention and application of drawing therapy in cancer patients: a scoping review.BMC nursing · 2024Article
- Quality of Life Evaluation Before and After Pulmonary Lobe Resection for Benign Diseases: A Comparative Study Among Patients with Tuberculosis, Bronchiectasis, and Benign Lung Nodules.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Personal and organisational health literacy in the non-specific symptom pathway for cancer: An ethnographic study.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2024Article
- Psychological distress, understanding of cancer and illness uncertainty in patients with Cancer of Unknown Primary.Psycho-oncology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivePatients diagnosed with Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP) experience high levels of psychological distress and report poor understanding of their cancer. We aimed to investigate: (1) if CUP patients with poorer understanding of their cancer diagnosis and testing experience more symptoms of psychological distress than those with better understanding; (2) if the relationship between patients' understanding of their cancer and psychological distress is mediated by illness uncertainty; and (3) explore whether patients' degree of understanding of their cancer can be predicted by clinical and socio-demographic factors.
methods209 CUP patients completed a questionnaire measuring anxiety, depression, illness uncertainty, fatigue, pain, sleep and understanding of their cancer. Using an apriori theoretical framework, we employed structural equation modelling to investigate predictors of patient's understanding of their cancer and psychological distress and the relationships between understanding, illness uncertainty and distress.
resultsThe structural equation model displayed good fit indices and supported the hypothesised relationship of patient's understanding of their cancer and the extent of psychological distress, which was mediated via illness uncertainty. Physical symptoms were positively associated with psychological distress and illness uncertainty. Younger age was predictive of lower patient's understanding of their cancer and higher levels of psychological distress.
conclusionsPatients with CUP, particularly those who are younger and experiencing more physical symptoms, report higher levels of psychological distress and may require additional mental health support. Our findings highlight a need to improve CUP patient's understanding about their illness, which could help reduce their illness uncertainty and alleviate psychological distress.
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