SynthesisSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2023
Prevalence of alexithymia in cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 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.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence of alexithymia in Chinese adolescents: a systematic review and meta‑analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Alexithymia and Cyberchondria: A Scoping Review with Implications for Healthcare Contexts.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Is hereditary angioedema associated with deficits in emotion regulation? A quantitative study in adult patients.Orphanet journal of rare diseases · 2026Article
- The Relationship Between Symptom Burden and Death Anxiety in Ovarian Cancer Patients: The Mediating Effect of Alexithymia.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2026Article
- Validity and reliability of the brief form of the normative male alexithymia scale among Chinese patients after radical prostatectomy.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The effect of alexithymia on self-perceived aging among community-dwelling older adults with multiple chronic conditions: the mediating role of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Prevalence of alexithymia in allergy and hypersensitivity: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Industrial psychiatry journalReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeTo systematically evaluate the prevalence of alexithymia in cancer patients and to compare the prevalence of alexithymia in different countries, genders, and cancer types.
methodsWe thoroughly searched PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, CINAHL, PsychINFO, China Integrated Knowledge Resource Database, Wanfang Database, Weipu Database, and Chinese Biomedical Database for studies on the prevalence of alexithymia in cancer patients from the inception to April 2, 2023. Based on the Stata 15.0 software package, the prevalence of alexithymia in cancer patients was estimated using a random-effects model in this meta-analysis.
resultsEighteen studies with a total of 3,196 participants met the eligibility criteria for the meta-analysis. In 18 studies, 37.0% (95% CI: 28.0% - 46.0%) of cancer patients had alexithymia. 13 studies identified that the pooled mean score of alexithymia in cancer patients was 56.91 (95% CI: 54.44% to 59.37%). The prevalence of alexithymia was higher in cancer patients in developing countries (39.7%, 95% CI: 28.7% to 50.7%), males (40.0%, 95% CI: 24.0% to 55.9%), and colorectal cancer patients (47.3%, 95% CI: 21.3% to 93.3%).
conclusionsOur study found that the pooled prevalence of alexithymia in cancer patients was 37.0%, and higher in developing countries, males, and patients with colorectal cancer. Understanding the current status of alexithymia in cancer patients, timely identification and treatment by medical practitioners can improve the prognosis of cancer patients. CLINICAL
trial registrationThe protocol was registered in PROSPERO [CRD42023414665].
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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.