Practice of traditional Chinese medicine for psycho-behavioral intervention improves quality of life in cancer patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
BACKGROUND
Cancer patients suffer from diverse symptoms, including depression, anxiety, pain, and fatigue and lower quality of life (QoL) during disease progression. This study aimed to evaluate the benefits of Traditional Chinese Medicine psycho-behavioral interventions (TCM PBIs) on improving QoL by meta-analysis.


RESULTS
The six TCM PBIs analyzed were acupuncture, Chinese massage, Traditional Chinese Medicine five elements musical intervention (TCM FEMI), Traditional Chinese Medicine dietary supplement (TCM DS), Qigong and Tai Chi. Although both TCM PBIs and non-TCM PBIs reduced functional impairments in cancer patients and led to pain relief, depression remission, reduced time to flatulence following surgery and sleep improvement, TCM PBIs showed more beneficial effects as assessed by reducing both fatigue and gastrointestinal distress. In particular, acupuncture relieved fatigue, reduced diarrhea and decreased time to flatulence after surgery in cancer patients, while therapeutic Chinese massage reduced time to flatulence and time to peristaltic sound.


METHODS
Electronic literature databases (PubMed, CNKI, VIP, and Wanfang) were searched for randomized, controlled trials conducted in China. The primary intervention was TCM PBIs. The main outcome was health-related QoL (HR QoL) post-treatment. We applied standard meta analytic techniques to analyze data from papers that reached acceptable criteria.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings demonstrate the efficacy of TCM PBIs in improving QoL in cancer patients and establish that TCM PBIs represent beneficial adjunctive therapies for cancer patients.
Institute of Cancer Stem Cell, Cancer Center, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.|Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center of Cancer Medicine, Guangdong, China.|College of Nursing, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.
Weiwei
W
Tao
Institute of Cancer Stem Cell, Cancer Center, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.|Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center of Cancer Medicine, Guangdong, China.
Xi
X
Luo
Institute of Cancer Stem Cell, Cancer Center, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.|Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center of Cancer Medicine, Guangdong, China.
Bai
B
Cui
Institute of Cancer Stem Cell, Cancer Center, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.|Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center of Cancer Medicine, Guangdong, China.
Dapeng
D
Liang
Institute of Cancer Stem Cell, Cancer Center, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.|Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center of Cancer Medicine, Guangdong, China.
Chunli
C
Wang
Department of Radiology, Second Affiliated Hospital, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.
Yangyang
Y
Duan
School of Public Health, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.
Xiaofen
X
Li
Department of Psychology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.
Shiyu
S
Zhou
Dalian Medical University Magazine, Dalian, China.
Mingjie
M
Zhao
School of Art, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.
Yi
Y
Li
Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Yumin
Y
He
Department of Radiology, Second Affiliated Hospital, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.
Shaowu
S
Wang
Integrative Immunology and Behavior Program, Department of Animal Sciences, College of ACES, Urbana, IL, USA.|Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
Keith W
KW
Kelley
Graduate School, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.
Ping
P
Jiang
Institute of Cancer Stem Cell, Cancer Center, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.|Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center of Cancer Medicine, Guangdong, China.
Quentin
Q
Liu
D015670:Acupuncture Therapy / Q000379:methods; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004035:Diet Therapy / Q000379:methods; D005221:Fatigue / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008405:Massage / Q000379:methods; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D064906:Qigong; D011788:Quality of Life; D026302:Tai Ji
cancer; meta-analysis; psycho-behavioral interventions; quality of life; traditional Chinese medicine