SynthesisBMC complementary and alternative medicine2019
Twelve Chinese herbal preparations for the treatment of depression or depressive symptoms in cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Synthesis in BMC complementary and alternative medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pharmacotherapeutic Management of Depression in Patients With Cancer: A Review of Mechanistic and Clinical Evidence.Cancer reports (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2026Review
- The effect of traditional Chinese medicine on psychological conditions among elderly patients with cancer: a scoping review.Psychogeriatrics : the official journal of the Japanese Psychogeriatric Society · 2024Article
- The Effects of Complementary Therapies on Patient-Reported Outcomes: An Overview of Recent Systematic Reviews in Oncology.Cancers · 2023Review
- Investigating the crosstalk between chronic stress and immune cells: implications for enhanced cancer therapy.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Review
- Study on the Action Mechanism of the Yifei Jianpi Tongfu Formula in Treatment of Colorectal Cancer Lung Metastasis Based on Network Analysis, Molecular Docking, and Experimental Validation.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2022Article
- Antidepressant Potential of Quercetin and itsFrontiers in pharmacology · 2022Review
- Antidepressant Shugan Jieyu Capsule Alters Gut Microbiota and Intestinal Microbiome Function in Rats With Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress -Induced Depression.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- Plant-based Medicines (Phytoceuticals) in the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders: A Meta-review of Meta-analyses of Randomized Controlled Trials: Les médicaments à base de plantes (phytoceutiques) dans le traitement des troubles psychiatriques: une méta-revue des méta-analyses d'essais randomisés contrôlés.Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie · 2021Review
- Sini San Inhibits Chronic Psychological Stress-Induced Breast Cancer Stemness by Suppressing Cortisol-Mediated GRP78 Activation.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2021Article
- Soothing liver-qi stagnation method for cancer-related depression: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.Medicine · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPatients with cancer are vulnerable to depression or other depressive conditions. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) for the treatment of depression or depressive symptoms in cancer patients.
methodsCENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CNKI, VIP, SinoMed, and online clinical trial registry websites were searched for relevant RCTs until May 2017. The methodological quality of each included study was assessed with the "risk of bias" tool. Review Manager 5.3.5 was used to analyze the data.
resultsWe identified 18 RCTs that included data from 1441 participants. Twelve different types of Chinese herbal preparations were investigated by these studies, and they showed a better therapeutic effect in most comparisons when measured in terms of depression rating scale scores, with SMDs (95% CI) of - 2.30 (- 3.54, - 1.05) (CHM versus no treatment), - 0.61 (- 1.03, - 0.18) (CHM versus antidepressants), and - 0.55 (- 1.07, - 0.02) (CHM plus psychological treatments versus psychological treatments), or when measured in terms of treatment response rate, with RRs (95% CI) of 1.65 (1.19, 2.29) (CHM versus no treatment), 1.15 (1.03, 1.28) (CHM versus psychological treatments), 1.32 (1.07, 1.63) (CHM plus antidepressants versus antidepressants), and 1.70 (1.02, 2.85) (CHM plus psychological treatments versus psychological treatments). Compared with antidepressants, these CHMs showed borderline superiority for improving the response rate, with an RR (95% CI) of 1.08 (0.93, 1.26). Subgroup analysis based on psychiatric diagnosis (depression versus depressive symptoms) did not modify the direction of these estimates and neither could it explain the high level of heterogeneity. Patients in the CHM group experienced fewer adverse events of cardiac toxicity (P = 0.02), functional gastrointestinal disorders (P = 0.008), sleep disturbances (P = 0.02), blurred vision (P = 0.02) and fatigue (P = 0.03) than the patients in the no treatment group or the antidepressants group.
conclusionsAccording to the investigation of the twelve herbal preparations, the CHM intervention appears to alleviate depressive symptoms in cancer patients, either alone or combined with antidepressants or psychological treatments. However, a high risk of bias and high heterogeneity made the mean estimates uncertain. Well-designed trials with comprehensive and transparent reporting are warranted in the future.
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