SynthesisCancer medicine2024
Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Dysfunction in People With Cancer: A Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Cancer medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effectiveness of acupuncture for cancer-related fatigue: a systematic reviews and meta-analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Pooled it
- From traditional warming and tonifying to psychoneuroimmunology: theoretical reconstruction and clinical application of moxibustion for cancer-related fatigue.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Review
- Metabolic adaptations of the tumor macroenvironment and their role in cancer progression and survivorship.Genes & development · 2026Review
- Progesterone induces steroidome and lipidome remodeling in a BRCA-resembling mouse model of high-grade serous ovarian cancer.Translational oncology · 2026Article
- Perturbed Inflammatory, Proliferation, Regulatory, And Neurodegeneration Signaling Pathways Are Associated With Trait Anxiety In Cancer Survivors.Research square · 2026Article
- Cancer treatment-related cognitive impairment.Neuro-oncology advances · 2026Review
- The Impact of Pre-Existing Psychiatric Disorders on Gastric Cancer Stage and Mortality in Older Adults.Cancer medicine · 2026Article
- Pharmacotherapeutic Management of Depression in Patients With Cancer: A Review of Mechanistic and Clinical Evidence.Cancer reports (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2026Review
- Linking metabolism and metastasis: elevated α-hydroxybutyric acid in oral squamous cell carcinoma patients with lymph node metastasis.Metabolomics : Official journal of the Metabolomic Society · 2026Article
- Joint nausea and fatigue profiles during chemotherapy identify patients with a higher symptom burden.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Global research trends and hotspots in breast cancer related fatigue: a bibliometric investigation.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Psychosomatics at the threshold: cancer, mood disorders, and the mental pain of death - where precision medicine meets spirituality.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in breast cancer: a neuroimmune model to improve quality of life.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- An Integrative Review of Computational Methods Applied to Biomarkers, Psychological Metrics, and Behavioral Signals for Early Cancer Risk Detection.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Five depressive symptom trajectories in three dimensions are risk factors of cancer: a ten-year follow-up study.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2025Article
- Physical Activity, Exerkines, and Their Role in Cancer Cachexia.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Cardio-oncology rehabilitation and exercise: evidence, priorities, and research standards from the ICOS-CORE working group.European heart journal · 2025Review
- Psycho-Oncology in Breast Cancer: Supporting Women Through Distress, Treatment, and Recovery-Three Arguments-Rapid Narrative Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Review
- Review
- The depression-heart connection: cardiovascular risks in cancer patients from NHANES 2005-2018.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeCancer can be a source of significant psychological and physical stress. Prolonged stressful stimuli can influence the stress response, mediated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. However, there is limited literature investigating HPA axis function in patients with cancer.
methodsA systematic literature review of case-control studies was conducted comparing individuals with and without cancer examining the HPA axis function. Databases (MEDLINE, PubMed, Scopus) were searched from inception to May 2023.
resultsSeventeen studies met eligibility criteria: nine unstimulated-cortisol studies and eight reporting the effect of HPA stimulation or suppression. Sixteen studies reported altered levels of HPA function in cancer patients relative to controls, including 13 reporting increased baseline or hyperactive cortisol responses, and four-decreased baseline cortisol or blunted cortisol responses, two of which had patient groups with now known cortisol-suppressing treatments. HPA dysfunction was observed in patients of both sexes, diverse ages, stages of cancer and cancer treatments. Six papers reported on clinical outcomes with cases experiencing higher levels of fatigue, stress, poor memory, poor well-being and disturbed sleep. There was significant heterogeneity in methodologies across the studies.
conclusionHPA dysfunction was common in patients with cancer relative to cancer-free controls. The majority of studies in cancer reported an increased baseline cortisol and increased response to HPA stimulation. There is a need for well-powered studies using standardised methodology examining the mechanisms of HPA dysregulation and their health outcomes, to enable the development of appropriate tools for the diagnosis and management of HPA dysfunction in cancer.
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Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.