Otolaryngologic Symptom Burden, Emotional Distress, and Stigma in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Survivors: A…

ObservationalPsycho-oncology· Jul 2026

Otolaryngologic Symptom Burden, Emotional Distress, and Stigma in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Survivors: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Yi-Lun Shih, Chung-Ying Lin, Wei-Chih Chen … Ching-Nung Wu

Head & Neck SurgeryObservationalQ1IF 4.0

Emotional well-being is associated with self-stigma in nasopharyngeal carcinoma survivors.

Otolaryngologic Symptom Burden, Emotional Distress, and Stigma in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Survivors: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Yi-Lun Shih … Ching-Nung Wu

Psycho-oncology · Jul 2026

Purpose

To examine whether otolaryngology-specific symptom burden is associated with perceived and self-stigma among nasopharyngeal carcinoma (nasopharyngeal carcinoma) survivors, and the mediating role of emotional well-being.

Methods

Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan.

n = 340 NPC survivors

Results

β = 0.075

worse emotional well-being was associated with higher self-stigma

n = 340 NPC survivors

More results

PS > 0 occurred in 8.0% of assessments, whereas high SS (> 2.5) was present in 9.5%.

High-stigma groups exhibited significantly worse symptom trajectories.

Mediation analyses indicated full mediation of most symptom-PS associations and partial mediation of symptom-SS associations by the emotional domain.

“

Conclusion

Emotional well-being may be an important correlate of both perceived and self-stigma in nasopharyngeal carcinoma survivorship. Whether addressing emotional well-being can reduce stigma warrants evaluation in future studies.

Otolaryngologic Symptom Burden, Emotional Distress, and Stigma in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Survivors: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Otolaryngologic Symptom Burden, Emotional Distress, and Stigma in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Survivors: A Prospective Cohort Study.

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