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Patient Expectancy and Post-chemotherapy Nausea: A Meta-analysis

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Background

Post-chemotherapy nausea remains a significant burden to cancer patients. While some studies indicate that expecting nausea is predictive of experiencing nausea, there are a number of conflicting findings.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to conduct a meta-analytic review to determine the strength of the relationship between expectancy and post-chemotherapy nausea.

Methods

The findings from 17 relevant studies (n = 2,400) identified through systematic searches of Medline, PsycInfo, and Cinhal were analyzed using a combination of meta-analytic techniques.

Results

Overall, there was a robust positive association between expectancy and post-chemotherapy nausea (ESr = 0.18, equivalent to Cohen’s d = 0.35), suggesting that patients with stronger expectancies experience more chemotherapy-induced nausea. Although weaker associations were found in studies employing multivariate analysis, specifically controlling for a history of nausea, and involving breast cancer patients, none of the moderators assessed were statistically significant.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that patient expectancies may contribute to post-chemotherapy nausea and that expectancy-based manipulations may provide a useful intervention strategy.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Prof. Robert Boakes, School of Psychology, University of Sydney for his useful comments on a draft of this manuscript. Ben Colagiuri is a recipient of an Australian Postgraduate Award. We have no competing interest in producing this review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, A18, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Ben Colagiuri B.Psych, Ph.D.

  2. Psychooncology Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark

    Robert Zachariae M.D.Sci.

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  1. Ben Colagiuri B.Psych, Ph.D.
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  2. Robert Zachariae M.D.Sci.
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Correspondence to Ben Colagiuri B.Psych, Ph.D..

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Colagiuri, B., Zachariae, R. Patient Expectancy and Post-chemotherapy Nausea: A Meta-analysis. ann. behav. med. 40, 3–14 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-010-9186-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-010-9186-4

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