Health anxiety and illness-related fears across diverse chronic illnesses: A systematic review on conceptualization, measurement, prevalence, course, and correlates.
<h4>Background</h4>Patients with chronic diseases commonly report fears of illness or symptoms recurring or worsening. These fears have been addressed from an illness-specific perspective (e.g., fear of cancer recurrence), a generic illness perspective (e.g., fear of progression), and a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2020-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234124 |
| _version_ | 1819128622533836800 |
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| author | Sophie Lebel Brittany Mutsaers Christina Tomei Caroline Séguin Leclair Georden Jones Danielle Petricone-Westwood Nicole Rutkowski Viviane Ta Geneviève Trudel Simone Zofia Laflamme Andrée-Anne Lavigne Andreas Dinkel |
| author_facet | Sophie Lebel Brittany Mutsaers Christina Tomei Caroline Séguin Leclair Georden Jones Danielle Petricone-Westwood Nicole Rutkowski Viviane Ta Geneviève Trudel Simone Zofia Laflamme Andrée-Anne Lavigne Andreas Dinkel |
| author_sort | Sophie Lebel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <h4>Background</h4>Patients with chronic diseases commonly report fears of illness or symptoms recurring or worsening. These fears have been addressed from an illness-specific perspective (e.g., fear of cancer recurrence), a generic illness perspective (e.g., fear of progression), and a psychiatric perspective (DSM-5 illness anxiety disorder and somatic symptom disorder). The broader concept of health anxiety (HA) can also be applied to patients with a chronic disease. This review was conducted to investigate the conceptual, theoretical, measurement-overlap, and differences between these distinct perspectives. We also aimed to summarize prevalence, course, and correlates of these fears in different chronic illnesses.<h4>Methods</h4>We used PsycINFO, PubMED, CINAHL, Web of Science, SCOPUS, and PSYNDEX to conduct a systematic review of studies pertaining to these fears in chronic illness published from January 1996 to October 2017. A total of 401 articles were retained.<h4>Results</h4>There were commonalities across different conceptualizations and diseases: a high prevalence of clinical levels of fears (>20%), a stable course over time, and a deleterious impact on quality of life. Reviewed studies used definitions, models, and measures that were illness-specific, with only a minority employing a psychiatric perspective, limiting cross-disease generalizability. There appears to be some applicability of DSM-5 disorders to the experience of fear of illness/symptoms in patients with a chronic illness. While conceptualizing HA on a continuum ranging from mild and transient to severe may be appropriate, there is a lack of agreement about when the level of fear becomes 'excessive.' The definitions, models, and measures of HA across chronic illnesses involve affective, cognitive, behavioral, and perceptual features.<h4>Conclusions</h4>The concept of HA may offer a unifying conceptual perspective on the fears of illness/symptoms worsening or returning commonly experienced by those with chronic disease. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T08:30:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5d6f9cceebf247aa9a6e544b63949d57 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T08:30:45Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-5d6f9cceebf247aa9a6e544b63949d572022-12-21T18:32:29ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032020-01-01157e023412410.1371/journal.pone.0234124Health anxiety and illness-related fears across diverse chronic illnesses: A systematic review on conceptualization, measurement, prevalence, course, and correlates.Sophie LebelBrittany MutsaersChristina TomeiCaroline Séguin LeclairGeorden JonesDanielle Petricone-WestwoodNicole RutkowskiViviane TaGeneviève TrudelSimone Zofia LaflammeAndrée-Anne LavigneAndreas Dinkel<h4>Background</h4>Patients with chronic diseases commonly report fears of illness or symptoms recurring or worsening. These fears have been addressed from an illness-specific perspective (e.g., fear of cancer recurrence), a generic illness perspective (e.g., fear of progression), and a psychiatric perspective (DSM-5 illness anxiety disorder and somatic symptom disorder). The broader concept of health anxiety (HA) can also be applied to patients with a chronic disease. This review was conducted to investigate the conceptual, theoretical, measurement-overlap, and differences between these distinct perspectives. We also aimed to summarize prevalence, course, and correlates of these fears in different chronic illnesses.<h4>Methods</h4>We used PsycINFO, PubMED, CINAHL, Web of Science, SCOPUS, and PSYNDEX to conduct a systematic review of studies pertaining to these fears in chronic illness published from January 1996 to October 2017. A total of 401 articles were retained.<h4>Results</h4>There were commonalities across different conceptualizations and diseases: a high prevalence of clinical levels of fears (>20%), a stable course over time, and a deleterious impact on quality of life. Reviewed studies used definitions, models, and measures that were illness-specific, with only a minority employing a psychiatric perspective, limiting cross-disease generalizability. There appears to be some applicability of DSM-5 disorders to the experience of fear of illness/symptoms in patients with a chronic illness. While conceptualizing HA on a continuum ranging from mild and transient to severe may be appropriate, there is a lack of agreement about when the level of fear becomes 'excessive.' The definitions, models, and measures of HA across chronic illnesses involve affective, cognitive, behavioral, and perceptual features.<h4>Conclusions</h4>The concept of HA may offer a unifying conceptual perspective on the fears of illness/symptoms worsening or returning commonly experienced by those with chronic disease.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234124 |
| spellingShingle | Sophie Lebel Brittany Mutsaers Christina Tomei Caroline Séguin Leclair Georden Jones Danielle Petricone-Westwood Nicole Rutkowski Viviane Ta Geneviève Trudel Simone Zofia Laflamme Andrée-Anne Lavigne Andreas Dinkel Health anxiety and illness-related fears across diverse chronic illnesses: A systematic review on conceptualization, measurement, prevalence, course, and correlates. PLoS ONE |
| title | Health anxiety and illness-related fears across diverse chronic illnesses: A systematic review on conceptualization, measurement, prevalence, course, and correlates. |
| title_full | Health anxiety and illness-related fears across diverse chronic illnesses: A systematic review on conceptualization, measurement, prevalence, course, and correlates. |
| title_fullStr | Health anxiety and illness-related fears across diverse chronic illnesses: A systematic review on conceptualization, measurement, prevalence, course, and correlates. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Health anxiety and illness-related fears across diverse chronic illnesses: A systematic review on conceptualization, measurement, prevalence, course, and correlates. |
| title_short | Health anxiety and illness-related fears across diverse chronic illnesses: A systematic review on conceptualization, measurement, prevalence, course, and correlates. |
| title_sort | health anxiety and illness related fears across diverse chronic illnesses a systematic review on conceptualization measurement prevalence course and correlates |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234124 |
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