Effectiveness of auricular point therapy for cancer‐related fatigue: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

To systemically review the efficacy and safety of auricular point therapy in patients with cancer-related fatigue.A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Eight electronic databases (PubMed, CENTRAL, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, China Biology Medicine, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and WanFang Data Knowledge Service Platform) were explored for randomized controlled trials from their inception to 1 December 2018.The risk of bias assessment tool was adopted in accordance with Cochrane Handbook 5.3.0. All included studies reported the effects on cancer-related fatigue as the primary outcome. Effect size was estimated using relative risk, standardized mean difference or mean difference with a corresponding 95% confidence interval. Review Manager 5.3 was used for meta-analysis.Six studies comprising 394 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that auricular point therapy plus standard care produced more positive effects on cancer-related fatigue and quality of life than standard care alone. It could significantly improve the role, emotional, cognitive, and social functions of patients with cancer-related fatigue.Auricular point therapy may be a safe therapy to relieve cancer-related fatigue and enhance the quality of life of patients with cancer. However, the evidence was inconclusive due to limitations on the quantity and quality of included studies. Rigorously designed randomized controlled trials should be conducted to verify the results.Auricular point therapy is a simple and safe therapeutic approach that may alleviate cancer-related fatigue of common complications in patients with cancer and it is worth promoting in the community, family, and hospital. Moreover, the research findings can provide suggestions and inspiration for nurses and researchers to implement the proposal, which is conducive to design more rigorous and high-quality randomized controlled trials.目的: 系统地评估耳穴疗法对出现癌因性疲乏患者的有效性及安全性。 设计: 随机对照试验的系统评估与荟萃分析。 数据来源: 通过8大电子数据库(PubMed、CENTRAL、Embase、CINAHL、科学引文索引数据库、中国生物医学文献数据库、中国国家知识基础设施、万方数据知识服务平台)对自数据库建立之初到2018年12月1日期间开展的随机对照试验进行检索。 评估方法: 按照Cochrane手册5.3.0版使用偏倚风险评估工具。所有纳入研究均采用对癌因性疲乏的影响作为主要结果。使用相对风险、标准化平均差或具有相应95%置信区间的平均差来估计效应量。采用Review Manager5.3进行荟萃分析。 结果: 共纳入了包括394名患者在内的6项研究。荟萃分析结果表明,与仅采用标准护理相比,耳穴疗法加上标准护理对癌因性疲乏和生活质量具有更佳的改善效果。它还可显著改善出现癌因性疲乏患者的角色、情绪、认知和社会功能。 结论: 耳穴疗法是一种缓解癌因性疲乏、提高癌症患者生活质量的安全疗法。然而,由于纳入研究的数量和质量有限,证据尚且无法定论。仍需开展严格设计的随机对照试验,以验证结果。 影响: 耳穴疗法是一种简单且安全的治疗方法,可帮助减轻癌症患者诸如癌因性疲乏等常见并发症,值得社区、家庭和医院推广使用。此外,研究结果可为护士和研究人员实施该方案提供建议和启发,有利于设计更为严谨、更高质量的随机对照试验。.