Positive Health Online

Abstract

CHUANG and COLLEAGUES, (1)Department of Nursing, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan; (2)Department of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; (3)Department of Chinese Medicine, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and  Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; (4)Department of Surgery, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan; (5)School of Nursing, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; (6)Department of Nursing, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; (7)Taiwan Holistic Care Evidence Implementation Center: A JBI Affiliated Group, Taichung, Taiwan conducted a Network Meta-Analysis for Chinese Medicines Treatment for Sleep Disturbance in Breast Cancer Survivors:

Background

Sleep disturbance and insomnia are common adverse events in patients with breast cancer (BC). Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) treatment for sleep disturbance includes acupuncture, acupressure, auricular acupressure/auricular acupuncture, and Qigong. However, the specific efficacy of these TCM treatment remains unclear.

Methodology

This systematic review and network meta-analysis (NMA) investigated the effects of various TCM treatment on improving sleep quality in BC survivors. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reporting the results of TCM  treatments were included. The main NMA included 12 RCTs involving 1011  participants. The risk of bias was assessed using the Risk of Bias 2 [RoB 2] tool for randomized  controlled trials. The certainty of evidence of the NMA was assessed in accordance with GRADE (the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations).

Results

Acupressure, acupuncture, auricular acupuncture/auricular acupressure, and qigong were identified as optimal TCM treatment (P < .05) for enhancing sleep quality in BC survivors.

Conclusion

Our results provide some evidence that TCM treatment, particularly acupressure, can be beneficial in improving sleep quality in BC survivors. However, larger-scale clinical trials with robust methodological designs are required to validate and extend our findings. Conflict of interest statement: Declaration of Conflicting Interests. The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

Chuang CW(1)(2), Tsai MY(3), Wu SC(4), Liao WC(5)(6)(7). Chinese Medicines Treatment for Sleep Disturbance in Breast Cancer Survivors: A Network Meta-Analysis. Integr Cancer Ther.  ;23:15347354241308857. doi: 10.1177/15347354241308857. Jan-Dec 2024.

Comment

The above results from a Network Meta-Analysis demonstrated that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) treatments, particularly Acupressure, for sleep disturbance can be beneficial in improving sleep quality in breast cancer [BC[ survivors.