title: Anxiety and fear of cancer recurrence and its association with supportive care needs and health-care service utilization in cancer patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated the relationship between fear of cancer recurrence (FCR), anxiety, supportive care needs, and utilization of health-care services in a mixed sample of 335 cancer patients. We used validated questionnaires including the Fear of Progression Questionnaire-Short Form (FoP-Q-SF), the General Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and the Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS-SF34). Health-care services utilization was measured by a self-constructed questionnaire recording the use of 22 health and supportive care offers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In our sample, 3.9% of patients were classified as having high anxiety and 5.1% had high FCR. Patients reported the highest unmet supportive care needs in the domain health system and information followed by psychological needs. Integrated care and complementary support services were the most frequently used (32%) followed by medical (31%), psychological (23%), spiritual and religious (8%) and other support services (9%). Whereas anxiety was related to both unmet psychological and physical/daily living needs (p < 0.01), FCR was associated with unmet supportive care needs in all five domains further including needs with regard to health system and information, patient care, and sexuality (p < 0.01). However, higher levels of anxiety and FCR were not related to higher utilization of health-care services.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings show that FCR plays a significant role in unmet supportive care needs in cancer patients but not for health-care service utilization.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We recommend that clinicians monitor supportive care needs in patients struggling with FCR and anxiety.
authors: Department and Outpatient Clinic of Medical Psychology, Center of Psychosocial Medicine, Hubertus Wald Tumorzentrum (University Cancer Center Hamburg), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr.52/W26, 20246, Hamburg, Germany. s.sarkar@uke.de.|Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Charité Berlin, Berlin, Germany. s.sarkar@uke.de.
authors: Susanne
authors: S
authors: Sarkar
authors: Department and Outpatient Clinic of Medical Psychology, Center of Psychosocial Medicine, Hubertus Wald Tumorzentrum (University Cancer Center Hamburg), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr.52/W26, 20246, Hamburg, Germany.
authors: Leon
authors: L
authors: Sautier
authors: Tumor Biology Center, Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.|Department of Oncology, Hematology, and Section for Pneumonology, Hubertus Wald Tumorzentrum (University Cancer Center Hamburg), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors: Georgia
authors: G
authors: Schilling
authors: Department of Oncology, Hematology, and Section for Pneumonology, Hubertus Wald Tumorzentrum (University Cancer Center Hamburg), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors: Carsten
authors: C
authors: Bokemeyer
authors: Deanery, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors: Uwe
authors: U
authors: Koch
authors: Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Section of Psychosocial Oncology, University Medical Center Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors: Anja
authors: A
authors: Mehnert
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D010166:Palliative Care; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012008:Recurrence; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017741:Survivors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anxiety; Cancer; Chemotherapy; Fear of cancer recurrence; Health-care utilization; Psycho-oncology