AccScience Publishing / JCBP / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/JCBP025150023
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Prevalence of somatic symptom disorder in Syrian patients with breast cancer: A cross-sectional study

Jamal Alshorman1 ,  Maria Karaminasian2 ,  Somayeh Sadeghi2 ,  Elaheh Safari2 ,  Hadis Abbaspourtabari2 ,  Ruba Altahla1,3*
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1 Department of Orthopedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Haikou, Hainan, China
2 Department of General Medicine, MBBS Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
3 Department of Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Al Baath University, Homs, Syria
JCBP, 025150023 https://doi.org/10.36922/JCBP025150023
Received: 10 April 2025 | Revised: 27 May 2025 | Accepted: 18 June 2025 | Published online: 9 September 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Breast cancer is a common cancer among women in Syria, characterized by lower incidence rates compared to those in Western countries but higher mortality. This study aims to determine the prevalence of somatic symptom disorder (SSD) among breast cancer patients in Syria and to identify disparities in demographic, clinical, and psychosocial characteristics between breast cancer patients with and without SSD. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from June to December 2024, involving 65 women with breast cancer patients randomly selected from the Al-Baath University Cancer Hospital. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire, including validated tools for assessing SSD, anxiety, and fear of cancer recurrence. Statistical analyses such as Chi-square tests and logistic regression were performed using SPSS. Among the 65 participants, 18 (27.69%) were diagnosed with SSD. The patients with SSD reported significant levels of impairment (p<0.001) and longer symptom durations. Only 5.55% of the SSD patients reported no impairment, compared to 48.93% in the non-SSD group. Higher scores on the Patient Health Questionnaire-15, General Anxiety Disorder-7, and Fear of Cancer Recurrence-4 indicated increased psychological distress among SSD patients (all p<0.001). The results highlight a significant prevalence of SSD among breast cancer patients in Syria, emphasizing the need for routine psychological screenings and a multidisciplinary approach to care.

Keywords
Breast cancer
Prevalence
Somatic symptom disorder
Syria
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
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Journal of Clinical and Basic Psychosomatics, Electronic ISSN: 2972-4414 Print ISSN: 3060-8562, Published by AccScience Publishing
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