Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35726681›Full record

SynthesisIntegrative cancer therapies

Safety of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) treatment among children and young adults who suffer from adverse effects of conventional cancer treatment: A systematic review.

Dana C Mora, Agnete E Kristoffersen, Grete Overvåg, Miek C Jong, Marit Mentink, Jianping Liu, Trine Stub

Open access · goldAbstract readSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Integrative cancer therapies. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed
8.0field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Dana C MoraUiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.ORCID 0000-0003-1209-3526
Agnete E KristoffersenUiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
Grete OvervågUiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
Miek C JongUiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
Marit MentinkNetherlands Institute for Health Services Research, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Jianping LiuBeijing University of Chinese Medicine and Pharmacology, Beijing, China.
Trine StubUiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
UiT The Arctic University of Norway · NOBeijing University of Chinese Medicine · CNNetherlands Institute for Health Services Research · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundComplementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is widely used around the world to treat adverse effects derived from cancer treatment among children and young adults. Parents often seek CAM to restore and maintain the child's physical and emotional condition during and after cancer treatment.

objectivesThe objectives of this review were (i) to identify literature that investigates CAM use for treating adverse effects of conventional cancer treatment, (ii) to investigate the safety of the included CAM modalities, and (iii) to evaluate the quality of included studies.

methodsFive scientific research databases were used to identify observational, quasi-experimental, and qualitative studies from January 1990 to May 2021. Included studies investigated the use of CAM to treat adverse effects of cancer treatment in childhood cancer.

resultsFifteen studies were included in this review. Ten quasi-experimental, 3 observational studies (longitudinal/prospective), 2 qualitative studies, and 1 study with a quasi-experimental and qualitative arm were identified. Less than half (n = 6; 40%) of the studies included reported adverse effects for the CAM modality being studied. Among the studies that reported adverse effects, they were mostly considered as direct risk, as 13% reported mainly bleeding and bruising upon acupuncture treatment, and dizziness with yoga treatment. All adverse effects were assessed as minor and transient. CAM modalities identified for treating adverse effects of cancer treatment were alternative medical systems, manipulative and body-based therapies, biologically-based therapies, and mind-body therapies. CAM modalities were used to alleviate anxiety, pain, toxicity, prevent trauma, and improve health-related quality of life, functional mobility, and physical activity levels. All studies assessed scored 70% or above according to the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal for study quality checklists.

conclusionMost of the studies (58.3%) included in this review did not report adverse effects from CAM modalities used to treat adverse effects of cancer treatment in children and young adults. This lack of safety information is of concern because parents need to know whether the modality represents an extra burden or harm to the child. To improve awareness about safety in the field, a universal and uniform reporting system for adverse effects in CAM research is needed.

Indexed as

Complementary TherapiesDrug-Related Side Effects and Adverse ReactionsNeoplasmsChildHumansMind-Body TherapiesProspective StudiesQuality of LifeYoung Adultcomplementary and alternative medicineobservational studiespatient safetyqualitative studiesrisksystematic review

Identifiers

PMID35726681
PMCPMC9218455
OpenAlexW4283269380

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

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.