Table 6.

Contributing factors to scanxiety

Variable	Comparison	Effect on scanxiety	Studies	N	P value*
Age	Younger versus older	More prevalent	1	398	0.00841
		No difference in prevalence	2	338	NS28 50
		More severe	5	1883	0.005,45 <0.01,20 <0.01 (for screening),70 0.01,24 NR63
		No difference in severity	11	6804	NS,22 27 36 37 42 43 49 51 59 62 NS (for surveillance)70
Gender	Men versus women	More prevalent	1	200	<0.00139
		Less prevalent	1	298	0.02141
		No difference in prevalence	1	106	NS28
		More severe	1	232	0.033 (postscan)50
		Less severe	2	1381	0.000,47 <0.0557
		No difference in severity	5	580	NS37 49 51 59, NS (prescan)50
Ethnicity	White versus other races	More severe	1	143	NR63
	Maori and Pacific Islanders versus New Zealand European or Asian	More severe	1	584	<0.00127
	Any	No difference in severity	5	1454	NS22 24 37 40 49
Education	Lower versus higher	More prevalent	1	398	<0.00141
		No difference in prevalence	2	338	NS28 50
		More severe	8	7400	0.003,62 0.007,36 <0.01,22 ≤0.01,42 0.012,24 0.018,27 0.04,43 <0.0523
		No difference in severity	6	591	NS37 49 51 59 63 69
Employment	Unemployed versus employed	More prevalent	1	398	0.04641
		More severe	3	5056	0.01,43 0.05,23 ≤0.0542
		No difference in severity	2	654	NS27 37
Income	Higher versus lower	No difference in severity	3	757	NS27 37 49
Marital status	Married or de facto versus single	More severe	1	637	≤0.01 (using IES – intrusion subscale)42
		No difference in severity	5	1790	NS24 36 37 49, NS (using STAI – state anxiety subscale)42
Children	Children versus no children	No difference in severity	3	5206	NS24 37 43
Smoking status	Current versus non-smoking†	More severe	3	4562	<0.001,43 54 0.03147
		No difference in severity	2	330	NS40 49
Reason for scan	Diagnostic versus screening	More severe	3	1104	0.007,41 0.047,36 NR62
	Staging or surveillance versus monitoring	More severe	1	200	<0.00139
	Lower versus higher referral clarity	More severe	1	169	0.04854
Type of scan	MRI versus mammogram	More severe	1	49	0.00948
		Less severe	1	637	NR42
	CT versus MRI	More severe	1	36	0.00744
		Less severe	1	115	NR52
	PET versus CT	More severe	1	82	0.0133
	Nuclear medicine scan versus non-nuclear medicine scan	More severe	1	398	0.00441
	MRI versus PET/CT	No difference in severity	2	142	NS52 53
	CT versus PET versus chest X-ray	No difference in severity	1	59	NS34
	Bone scan versus PET scan	More severe	1	94	<0.001 (postscan)59
		No difference in severity	1	94	NS (prescan)59
Scan-naïve	First versus subsequent scans	More prevalent	1	398	0.00141
		No difference in prevalence	1	200	NS39
		More severe	5	3796	<0.0005,38 <0.01,25 <0.02,19 <0.05,67 NR66
		Less severe	1	93	0.03836
		No difference in severity	6	2491	NS24 27 50 51 59 62
Pain	Pain versus no pain during scan	More severe	6	4291	<0.0001,25 <0.001,27 0.001,62 <0.01,23 69 <0.0522
Risk of cancer	Past history versus no history of cancer	More severe	2	864	≤0.001,42 <0.0540
		Less severe	1	434	0.01345
		No difference in severity	3	1206	NS15 24 58
	Family history versus no family history of cancer	More severe	1	584	0.00227
		No difference in severity	3	1255	NS15 24 36
	Mutation carrier versus not a carrier	More severe	1	88	<0.05 (three comparisons, using IES cancer – Intrusion and Avoidance subscales, and postscan Health Questionnaire)58
		No difference	1	88	NS (five comparisons, using HADS- Anxiety subscale, Cancer Worry Scale – Revised, IES MRI – Intrusion and Avoidance subscales, and prescan Health Questionnaire)58
	Higher, not otherwise specified versus lower	More severe	1	70	<0.0537
Perceived risk of cancer	Higher versus lower	More severe	3	1545	<0.001,27 ≤0.00142 <0.0130

*The p values listed in this table were reported by individual studies based on their own datasets. This scoping review has not performed additional analysis or attempted quantitative comparisons between studies.

†One study compared current smokers versus former smokers,⁵⁴ and one study compared current and former smokers versus never smokers.⁴⁹

HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; IES, Impact of Event Scale; NR, not reported; NS, not significant; STAI, State Trait Anxiety Inventory.