Details of studies of survival and recurrence Sample size Coping style(s) (scale used*) Site of cancer Outcomes included in study, length of follow up (No of deaths) Reynolds1 847 Expressing/suppressing emotions, wishful thinking, problem solving, positive reappraisal, avoidance, escapism, "coping repertoire" Breast Survival: up to 9 years (218 deaths) Greer,2 5 Pettingdale,4 17 69 Denial, fighting spirit, stoic acceptance, helplessness/hopelessness Breast Survival: 5, 10, and 15 years (34, 36, 47 deaths respectively); recurrence Morris6 168 Denial, fighting spirit, anxious preoccupation, stoic acceptance, helplessness/hopelessness Breast, lymphoma Survival: up to 5 years (20 deaths); recurrence Watson7 578 Fighting spirit, helplessness/hopelessness, anxious preoccupation, fatalism, avoidance, emotional suppression Breast Survival: 5 years (133 deaths); recurrence Brown3 426 Active, distractive, and avoidant coping; adjustment to cancer Early stage melanoma Survival: 2 years (60 deaths); recurrence Andrykowski8 42 Fighting spirit, hopelessness/helplessness, anxious preoccupation, fatalism, avoidance Leukaemia Survival: median=2.2 months (27 deaths) Cody9 209 Fighting spirit, helplessness, anxiety, fatalism, avoidance Lung Survival: 8 weeks (deaths not stated) Dean10 125 Stoic acceptance, fighting spirit, denial, hopelessness/helplessness, anxious/depressed Breast Survival: 6-8 years (22 deaths); recurrence Giraldi11 95 Fighting spirit, hopelessness, anxious preoccupation, fatalism Breast Survival: 6 years (15 deaths) Murphy12 56 Fighting spirit, helplessness, anxiety, fatalism, avoidance Leukaemia, lymphoma, aplastic anaemia Survival: mean=82 months (18 deaths) Nordin13 14 139 Fighting spirit, helplessness, anxious preoccupation, anxiety, fatalism, avoidance (MAC scale) Colorectal, gastric, pancreatic, and biliary cancers Survival: 12 months (56 deaths) Tschuschke15 52 Passive reception/resignation, distraction, cognitive structuring, social contact, compliance, fighting spirit Leukaemia Survival: mean survival time=2.6 years (21 deaths) Cassileth16 18 204 +155 Hopelessness/helplessness, amount of adjustment required to cope with diagnosis Pancreatic, gastric, lung, colorectal cancer, glioma, melanoma, or breast Survival:1985group I median survival 7 months; group II median 12 months to recurrence  1988follow up at 3-8 years; recurrence Molassiotis19 31 Emotion focused coping, humour, withdrawal, acceptance, hopefulness Haematological malignancies Survival: 1-2 years (20 deaths) Ringdal20 21 253 Hopelessness Breast, gastrointestinal, prostate, lung; lymphoma Survival: mean survival time=17 months Jensen22 86 Defensiveness, helplessness/hopelessness, negative affect, chronic stress, and daydreaming Breast Recurrence: average follow up=624 days (11 deaths) Butow23 125 Active, distractive, avoidant coping Metastatic melanoma Survival: 2 years (deaths not stated) Butow24 99 Active, distractive and avoidant coping; adjustment to cancer (stigma/isolation, minimisation, anger) Metastatic breast Survival: 2 years (62 deaths) Richardson25 139 Behavioural and cognitive coping, including avoidance, information seeking, problem solving, affective regulation Haematological malignancies, rectal Survival: 5 years (64 deaths) Achté26 126 Denial, repression Not stated Survival: up to 3 years (35 deaths) Silberfarb27 290 Denial of illness Multiple myeloma Survival: 2 years (deaths not stated) Buddeberg30-33 107 Depressive coping, distrust and pessimism, "regressive tendency," self encouragement, distraction, self revalorisation, control of feelings and withdrawal, problem solving) Breast Survival: 3 years; 5-6 years; 10 years Derogatis34 35 Anxiety, depression, hostility, guilt, psychoticism, general psychological symptom severity index (defined by author as study of coping) Breast Survival: long term survivors (mean=23 months) v short term survivors (mean=9 months) (13 deaths) Faller35 36 103 Depressive coping, active coping, hope Lung Survival: up to 7 years Hislop37 133 Coping by change, by control, by stress Breast Survival: 4 years (26 deaths); recurrence De Boer41 133 Uncertainty regarding how to cope with illness, or emotions Head, neck Survival: 6 years (57deaths); recurrence Schulz42 268 Pessimism, optimism Breast, lung, head, neck, gynaecological, other Survival: 8 months * See the full version on bmj.com for details of scales.