Plain-language · Issue 3 · 2026-10-04
Alexithymia More Common in Adolescents With Cystic Fibrosis, and Linked to Worse Lung Function
Editorially reviewed research summaries, context, and limitations.
Fatih Ercan, Sevgi Pekcan, Semih Erden, et al.
Summary: Researchers in Turkey studied a group of teenagers aged 14–18 with cystic fibrosis and compared them with healthy teenagers of the same age. They measured something called alexithymia — a reduced ability to recognise and put words to one's own feelings. Using a standard questionnaire called the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, teenagers with CF scored significantly higher than healthy peers, meaning they had more difficulty with emotional awareness. The study also found that teenagers with worse lung function tended to score higher on this scale, though whether one causes the other is not known.
Why it matters: When people struggle to identify or describe their own emotions, it can make it harder to communicate with doctors, stick to demanding treatment routines, and benefit from psychological support. If difficulty with emotional awareness is genuinely more common in teenagers with CF — especially those whose lung health is declining — care teams may need to pay closer attention to this, not just to physical symptoms. The study raises a practical question: are CF clinics doing enough to check for emotional processing difficulties in their teenage patients?
What to keep in mind: This study looked at teenagers at one point in time, so it cannot tell us whether trouble recognising emotions leads to worse lung health, whether living with serious illness makes emotional processing harder, or whether both reflect something else entirely. We also do not know how many teenagers were included, which matters because small studies in rare diseases can produce uncertain results. Teenagers with other serious conditions were not included as a comparison group, so it is unclear whether this pattern is specific to CF or common to chronic illness more broadly. The finding is interesting and worth investigating further, but it is best understood as an early signal rather than a firm conclusion.
Relevance: Cystic Fibrosis
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42631608/
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