The effectiveness of moxibustion for cancer-related fatigue: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis

Cancer-related fatigue is a common and debilitating symptom in cancer patients. Moxibustion is frequently used in cancer and its complications. However, evidence that moxibustion can improve cancer-related fatigue is insufficient. We systematically reviewed existing clinical randomized controlled trials to investigate whether moxibustion can improve cancer-related fatigue. We used three methods to search for relevant studies. Thirteen electronic databases were searched. Adult patients diagnosed with cancer were included in our study. Intervention group patients received moxibustion only or a combination of moxibustion with other co-interventions. Patients in the control group used no moxibustion intervention. The primary outcome was fatigue. RevMan version 5.3 was used to analyze all data. This study was reported based on the PRISMA statement. A total of 22 studies with 1628 cancer patients were included in this review. The included studies had methodological limitations of varying degrees. The results of the meta-analysis indicate that moxibustion can significantly reduce fatigue regardless of the type—sensory fatigue, behavioral fatigue, affective meaning fatigue, cognitive fatigue, physical fatigue, or total score of fatigue. The study findings suggest that moxibustion can improve cancer-related fatigue and most aspects of quality of life (except for economic difficulty and insomnia). Moxibustion is relatively safe as treatment for cancer patients. Owing to the small number, short intervention duration and methodological drawbacks of the included studies, more rigorously designed large randomized controlled trials with satisfactory intervention durations and follow-up periods are required to provide more reliable evidence.