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Correlates of stigma for patients with breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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Abstract

Objective

This study was conducted to examine the factors associated with stigma in breast cancer women.

Methods

PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and two Chinese electronic databases were electronically searched to identify eligible studies that reported the correlates of stigma for patients with breast cancer from inception to July 2022. Two researchers independently performed literature screening, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment. R4.1.1 software was used for statistical analysis.

Results

Twenty articles including 4161 patients were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis. Results showed that breast cancer stigma was positively correlated with working status, type of surgery, resignation coping, depression, ambivalence over emotional expression, and delayed help-seeking behavior and negatively correlated with age, education, income, quality of life, social support, confrontation coping, psychological adaptation, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. Descriptive analysis showed that breast cancer stigma was positively correlated with intrusive thoughts, body image, anxiety, and self-perceived burden but negatively correlated with a sense of coherence, personal acceptance of the disease, sleep quality, cancer screening attendance and doctor’s empathy.

Conclusion

Many demographic, disease-related, and psychosocial variables are related to breast cancer stigma. Our view can serve as a basis for health care professionals to develop health promotion and prevention strategies for patients with breast cancer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia

    Wen-zhen Tang, Azlina Yusuf, Yulita Hanum P. Iskandar, Ernest Mangantig & Shi-li Cheng

  2. The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China

    Kui Jia, Xin-shao Mo & Tian-fu Wei

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  1. Wen-zhen Tang
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  2. Azlina Yusuf
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Contributions

ZT drafted the manuscript, contributed to the study analysis and data interpretation. The second to fourth authors gave comments on the articles. XM contributed to the study design and the revision of the manuscript. TW and SC participated in the literature search.

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Correspondence to Azlina Yusuf or Kui Jia.

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Tang, Wz., Yusuf, A., Jia, K. et al. Correlates of stigma for patients with breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Support Care Cancer 31, 55 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-022-07506-4

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