Trajectories of fear of progression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients receiving proton and heavy ion therapy

Objective The study examined the growth trajectory of fear of progression(FOP) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients. In addition, sociodemographic and clinical variables of each trajectory class were analyzed. Method Two hundred sixteen NPC patients undergoing proton and heavy ion therapy were measured beginning (T0) and end of a 4-week proton and heavy ion therapy (T1), 3 months (T2) and 6 months (T3) after discharge. And data from the final 197 NPC patients were analyzed. NPC patients’ FOP was investigated by the Fear of Progression Questionnaire-Short Form (FOP-Q-SF) form T0 to T3. SPSS and Mplus were used for statistical analysis. The LGMM was used to analyze the trajectory of FOP followed up over 6 months after proton and heavy ion therapy. The logistic regression was utilized to compare the differences in sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients in different trajectory groups of FOP. Results One hundred ninety-seven NPC patients were analyzed. LGMM analysis showed that three-group trajectory solution was the best fitting (low-fear decline FOP (14.21%), the moderate-fear stable FOP(43.15%), and high-fear rising FOP (42.64%). Significant positive associations were found between age < 30 years ( β = 3.399, p = 0.023), with or without children ( β = 3.1, p = 0.002), primary/recurrence ( β = -6.196, p < 0.001), diagnosis < 3 months ( β = 4.435, p = 0.031), high school education ( β = 2.98, p = 0.048), and high fear rising FOP. Patients who had moderate financial stress ( β = 2.51, p = 0.041), with or without children ( β = 1.564, p = 0.003), primary/recurrence ( β = -2.578, p = 0.005), less than 30 radiotherapy times ( β = 0.979, p = 0.046) tended to report significant moderate-fear stable FOP over time. Conclusion 42.64% of the NPC patients showed high-fear rising FOP over the 6 months after treatment. Age 18–30 years, with or without children, relapsed, diagnosis < 3 months, and high school education and reporting being a pessimist predicts higher FOP scores. Early identification of age 18–30 years, with or without children, relapsed, diagnosis < 3 months, and high school education might help to identify populations experiencing long-term FOP. Clinical teams responsible to develop the target interventions for management of FCR in clinical practice.