Fear of Progression and Its Associated Factors Among Patients With Positive Lung Cancer Screening Results: A Latent Profile Analysis

Abstract

Fear of progression is a common problem. This cross-sectional study aimed to identify distinct fear of progression profiles among patients with progressive pulmonary nodules in the preoperative period and to explore the factors associated with these patterns. A total of 259 preoperative patients with pulmonary nodules completed self-reported measures assessing fear of progression and relevant correlates (e.g., health anxiety and positive psychological capital) from February 2024 to August 2024. Latent profile analysis was used to identify heterogeneous subgroups, and the influencing factors were identified via multivariate logistic regression. Latent profile analysis revealed 4 profiles: low, medium, medium-high, and high fear of progression. Positive psychological capital and health anxiety significantly influenced fear of progression. The number of nodules, number of chronic diseases, and medical insurance status were identified as significant independent predictors of the outcome. Through advanced latent profile analysis, we categorized the fear of progression and identified its risk factors. These findings have implications for healthcare strategies and offer new insights for managing the fear of progression and improving patient well-being.

Keywords: associated factors; fear of progression; lung cancer screening; pulmonary nodules.