Attentional bias for cancer-related stimuli in breast cancer survivors with fear of cancer recurrence

To investigate the characteristics of attentional bias towards cancer-related stimuli in breast cancer patients with fear of cancer recurrence（FCR） under subthreshold and suprathreshold stimulus conditions.

A total of 94 female breast cancer patients admitted in First Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University from September 2022 to March 2023 were recruited to complete the Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventory-Short Form（FCRI-SF） and the dot-probe task. According to the FCRI-SF cut-off score of 13, they were divided into clinical and non-clinical FCR groups, with 47 cases in each group. One-sample t-test and repeated-measures ANOVA were used to statistically analyze the subjects in the 2 groups in terms of attentional bias score, attentional orienting score and attentional disengagement difficulty score.

The patients in the clinical FCR group showed a significant attentional bias toward cancer-related negative words（P＜0. 05）. Under the subthreshold stimulus condition, its main component was attentional orienting to cancer-related negative words（P＜0. 05）. In the suprathreshold stimulus condition, the main components were attentional orienting to neutral words matched by cancer-related negative words and difficulty in attentional disengagement from cancer-related negative words as well as attentional avoidance for cancer-related positive words（P＜0. 05）.

Breast cancer patients with clinical FCR have an attentional bias toward cancer-related negative stimuli. Reducing their attention to cancer-related negative stimuli may be an effective measure to reduce FCR level in the patients.