Photo Credit: iStock.com/Jacob Wackerhausen
Patients with lymphoma or CLL who lacked confidence in their care or doctor were more likely to experience emotional distress and other psychosocial challenges.
About 73% of adverse psychosocial outcomes (APSOs) among patients with lymphoma or chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) were significantly associated with a lack of confidence in care plans or doctors, according to findings presented at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting.
“APSOs are common side effects, often underreported, which have great impact on the well-being of patients with lymphoma or CLL,” wrote Steve Kalloger, MSc, and colleagues. “As patients traverse through their unique cancer journey, relationships with their care team yield varying degrees of confidence.”
Survey Gauges Confidence Levels
A total of 5,186 patients participated in a cross-sectional, anonymous survey in 2024, sharing their views on the management of their care and the doctor coordinating their treatment. The patients were predominantly female (64%), with a median age of 61 years (range, 20-96).
The researchers used the survey results to categorize patients into those who were confident and those who were not, then used nominal logistic regression to investigate the associations between confidence and 19 APSOs. Age and biological sex were controlled during the analysis.
Psychosocial Outcomes Significantly Linked
Lack of confidence in care management was significantly associated with the following APSOs:
- Conflicts between beliefs and cancer treatment (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.4-3.6);
- Loss of meaning/purpose (OR, 1.9, 95% CI, 1.5-2.4);
- Depression (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.4-1.99);
- Grief/loss (OR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.3-1.96);
- Loss of interest in usual activities (OR, 1.6 (1.3-1.9);
- PTSD (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.2-1.98);
- Isolation/loneliness (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.3-1.9);
- Feelings of worthlessness/being a burden (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.2-1.9);
- Loss of self-esteem (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.2-1.8);
- Anxiety (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.2-1.7);
- Fear of incapacitation (OR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.1-1.7);
- Changes in relationships (OR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.1-1.6); and
- Worry (OR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.1-1.5).
Meanwhile, three APSOs were significantly increased among patients lacking confidence in the doctor in charge of their care: anger (OR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.2-2.0), isolation/loneliness (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.2-1.9); and fear of incapacitation (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.1-1.9).
The researchers noted that the rest of the APSOs they evaluated did not show a significant difference related to patient confidence.
Building Relationships With Patients
“These results suggest that patients with low confidence in the management of their care plan and in the doctor coordinating their care may disproportionately experience APSOs,” Kalloger and colleagues said. “It is important that care teams take time to build relationships with their patients to help reinforce confidence in their care. In doing so, the patient might experience fewer APSOs.”
In the future, the study authors plan to investigate how general practitioner involvement impacts patient confidence and how confidence may influence physical side effects in this patient population.
The study was led by the Lymphoma Coalition and funded by several industry sources.
Create Post
Twitter/X Preview
Logout