ArticleInternational journal of therapeutic massage & bodywork2025
Comparing Massage, Acupressure, and Combined Therapy for Managing Cancer-related Pain, Fatigue, and Sleep Disturbance: A 2 × 2 Factorial Randomized Controlled Trial.
Article in International journal of therapeutic massage & bodywork, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Massage and acupressure are highly popular among cancer patients as non-invasive methods with different mechanisms that can target multiple coexisting symptoms. However, the comparative effectiveness between these two techniques is still unclear, particularly among patients with advanced cancer. Furthermore, it is unclear whether both approaches would have a synergistic effect if applied simultaneously. The main objective is to compare the efficacy of massage alone versus acupressure alone versus combined therapy (massage plus acupressure) for managing cancer-related symptom cluster of fatigue, pain, and sleep disturbance. Methods: The 2-FAM-2 study is a four-arm, longitudinal, randomized trial comparing the efficacy of two complementary medicine techniques (massage alone vs. acupressure alone vs. combined therapy vs. control) for managing a fatigue-pain-sleep symptom cluster in patients with advanced cancer that will use a 2 × 2 factorial design with an equal allocation ratio. One hundred adult patients with advanced cancer who have all three symptoms of pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbance will be recruited. Four weeks of intervention and 4 weeks of follow-up with repeated measures will be part of the 8-week study period. The main outcome is the longitudinal trajectory (trend) in the intensity of the pain-sleep-fatigue symptom cluster over time, assessed via generalized estimating equations (GEE) at baseline, weekly during intervention (weeks 1-4), and at weeks 6 and 8 as follow-up. Self-reported fatigue, sleep disturbance, and pain items (0-10 scale) will be averaged to compute the symptom cluster intensity (SCI). Furthermore, a machine learning technique based on decision tree algorithms will be carried out to conduct a subgroup analysis aimed at predicting clinical outcomes for different interventions in homogeneous subgroups. Discussion: The trial's findings could be helpful in the development of clinical guidelines, individualization of intervention, as well as guiding clinical decisions and improving the quality of life of patients.
Indexed as
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.