Fear of cancer recurrence among gynaecological cancer survivors: a systematic scoping review

Authors: Shauneen Kiernan, Dr Sara J MacLennan, Dr Sheela Tripathee and Dr Santosh Gaihre

Background

Cancer is among the largest contributors to morbidity and mortality worldwide, accounting for 19 million new cases in 2020 alone1. As the global cancer burden continues to rise, the volume of survivors also grows rapidly, giving rise to widespread survivorship challenges. Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) defined as the worry that cancer will return or progress2, is among the most common and debilitating survivorship concerns, reported by up to 79% of survivors3. Yet, many specific cancer groups are neglected throughout medical research. This scoping review aims to examine and summarise the current evidence from the literature on FCR among gynaecological cancer survivors.

Methodology

This scoping review was conducted in accordance with the Arksey and O'Malley methodological framework4, as is the gold standard for this methodology. Four main electronic databases were searched using comprehensive keywords and MeSH terms within three categories: gynaecological cancer terms, fear terms and recurrence terms to identify peer-reviewed primary studies published in English within the last 10 years. 16 articles were included for review and data was extracted in accordance with the SPIDER framework5. Finally, a narrative synthesis and thematic analysis was conducted to summarise the available data and identify patterns across the studies.

Results

Upon thematic analysis, five broad themes emerged from the literature: