Background: This meta-analysis aims to systematically evaluate the evidence for mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in cancer related fatigue (CRF).
Material and methods: In October 2018, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Clinical Trials, China Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and China Science Periodical Database (CSPD) were searched for randomized controlled trials on MBSR in CRF patients. Literature screening and data extraction were conducted by two reviewers. Methodological quality evaluation was assessed by the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Revman 5.3.0 performs data analysis. The trial sequential analysis software estimated the required information size for each outcome indicator.
Results: There have been 5 studies included in this research for meta-analysis, 356 cases in the experimental group and 344 cases in the control group. The meta-analysis result indicates that: MBSR can reduce the cancer-related fatigue score of cancer patients, SMD = -0.51,95%CI [-0.81-0.20], P = 0.001, and the difference is statistically significant. The trial sequential analysis indicates that: The RIS required for the indicator to reach the level of significance test should be 1768. The sample size (700 cases) included in the study has not reached the RIS, but it has crossed the traditional threshold and the TSA threshold, indicating that the results tend to be stable. The grading results are shown as low-quality evidence.
Conclusions: This research has used evidence-based medicine to evaluate whether MBSR can alleviate CRF in cancer patients and provide evidence for the comprehensive intervention program for patients with cancer-related fatigue.
Keywords: CRF; Fatigue; MBSR; Systematic review.
Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.