ArticleBMC palliative care2013
Evidence for the use of Levomepromazine for symptom control in the palliative care setting: a systematic review.
Article in BMC palliative care, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 63 citations in OpenAlex.
- 2016 Updated MASCC/ESMO consensus recommendations: Management of nausea and vomiting in advanced cancer.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2017Pooled it
- Levomepromazine for nausea and vomiting in palliative care.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015Pooled it
- Conceptual barriers to palliative sedation: insights from focus group interviews with specialist palliative care professionals.BMC palliative care · 2025Article
- Frequency and predictors of palliative sedation among patients with cancer who died in a specialist inpatient palliative care unit: a retrospective study.BMC palliative care · 2025Article
- Multiple adverse outcomes associated with antipsychotic use in people with dementia: population based matched cohort study.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2024Article
- Article
- The Management of Nausea and Vomiting Not Related to Anticancer Therapy in Patients with Cancer.Current treatment options in oncology · 2021Review
- The effect of levomepromazine on the healthy and injured developing mouse brain - AnIBRO reports · 2020Article
- The Palliative Care of Patients With Incurable Cancer.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2020Article
- Nausea and Vomiting: a Palliative Care Imperative.Current oncology reports · 2020Review
- Bladder Care in Palliative Care Inpatients: A Prospective Dual Site Cohort Study.Palliative medicine reports · 2020Article
- Trends in utilization and dosing of antipsychotic drugs in Scandinavia: Comparison of 2006 and 2016.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2019Article
- A research study review of effectiveness of treatments for psychiatric conditions common to end-stage cancer patients: needs assessment for future research and an impassioned plea.BMC psychiatry · 2018Article
- A History of Drug Discovery for Treatment of Nausea and Vomiting and the Implications for Future Research.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2018Review
- Review
- Theoretical study on the metabolic mechanisms of levmepromazine by cytochrome P450.Journal of molecular modeling · 2016Article
- Interaction of antihistaminic drugs with human translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP) as novel approach for differentiation therapy.Oncotarget · 2016Article
- Delirium in patients with cancer: assessment, impact, mechanisms and management.Nature reviews. Clinical oncology · 2015Review
- Treating an established episode of delirium in palliative care: expert opinion and review of the current evidence base with recommendations for future development.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2014Review
- Evading Seizures: Phenobarbital Reintroduced as a Multifunctional Approach to End-of-Life Care.Case reports in oncologyArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLevomepromazine is an antipsychotic drug that is used clinically for a variety of distressing symptoms in palliative and end-of-life care. We undertook a systematic review based on the question "What is the published evidence for the use of levomepromazine in palliative symptom control?".
methodsTo determine the level of evidence for the use of levomepromazine in palliative symptom control, and to discover gaps in evidence, relevant studies were identified using a detailed, multi-step search strategy. Emerging data was then scrutinized using appropriate assessment tools, and the strength of evidence systematically graded in accordance with the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine's 'levels of evidence' tool. The electronic databases Medline, Embase, Cochrane, PsychInfo and Ovid Nursing, together with hand-searching and cross-referencing provided the full research platform on which the review is based.
results33 articles including 9 systematic reviews met the inclusion criteria: 15 on palliative sedation, 8 regarding nausea and three on delirium and restlessness, one on pain and six with other foci. The studies varied greatly in both design and sample size. Levels of evidence ranged from level 2b to level 5, with the majority being level 3 (non-randomized, non-consecutive or cohort studies n = 22), with the quality of reporting for the included studies being only low to medium.
conclusionLevomepromazine is widely used in palliative care as antipsychotic, anxiolytic, antiemetic and sedative drug. However, the supporting evidence is limited to open series and case reports. Thus prospective randomized trials are needed to support evidence-based guidelines.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.