title: Comorbidity of fear of progression and anxiety disorders in cancer patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The relation between fear of progression (FoP) and anxiety disorders remains unclear. Therefore, we investigated the comorbidity between clinical FoP and psychiatric anxiety disorders.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional study, 341 cancer patients undergoing acute inpatient care participated. A structured clinical interview (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I) was used to identify Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Fourth Edition anxiety disorders and hypochondriasis. Patients completed measures of FoP (Fear of Progression Questionnaire), worries (Penn State Worry Questionnaire, Worry Domains Questionnaire), depression [Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ): Depression], anxiety (PHQ: General Anxiety Disorder) and somatic symptoms (PHQ: Somatic Symptoms). We cross-tabulated FoP with the presence of anxiety disorders and studied associated variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of all patients studied, 17.6% suffered from an anxiety disorder. With regard to comorbidity, 68.3% suffered neither from clinical FoP nor from any anxiety disorder, 13.4% had not been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder but experienced clinical FoP, and 11.6% only suffered from an anxiety disorder. The remaining 6.7% suffered from FoP that was comorbid with an anxiety disorder. Patients with a pure FoP did not differ from patients with a pure anxiety disorder on nearly all symptom measures. Only a few associations between the comorbidity pattern and sociodemographic and clinical variables emerged.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Clinical FoP appears to be a distinct phenomenon. It does not differ from anxiety disorders in its psychological and somatic burdens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany. Electronic address: a.dinkel@tum.de.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dinkel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kremsreiter
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Birgitt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Marten-Mittag
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Claas
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lahmann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anxiety disorders; Fear of progression; Fear of recurrence; Illness-related fears; Psycho-oncology