Time toxicity among patients with cancer: a scoping review

The time burden among patients with cancer is prominent, disrupting daily routines, inducing emotional distress, and adversely affecting patients' quality of life and treatment adherence. However, existing research on this topic remains fragmented and lacks a comprehensive synthesis. This scoping review was conducted to systematically synthesize published evidence on time toxicity among patients with cancer, providing a research reference for subsequent investigations in this field.

We systematically searched 6 electronic databases from inception to February 1, 2026, for articles published in English: PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, and Cochrane Library. The search terms focused on key concepts including cancer and time toxicity. All retrieved literature was synthesized into four major categories: current status, influencing factors, assessment methods of time toxicity, and corresponding intervention measures.

A total of 30 articles were included in the final review. Patients may experience notable time toxicity, which appears to be influenced by demographic and socioeconomic/insurance factors, disease-related factors, treatment-related factors and other relevant factors. At present, various methods have been developed to assess time toxicity, and relevant interventions are available to reduce patients' time toxicity.

Patients with cancer may experience notable time toxicity, which appears to be influenced by multiple factors. Targeted interventions for different populations may warrant further development in future research. Current measurement methods can help assess patients' time toxicity, although further optimization is needed to improve the accuracy and comprehensiveness of relevant assessments. This issue merits further exploration in subsequent studies.