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The effect of complementary and alternative medicine on quality of life, depression, anxiety, and fatigue levels among cancer patients during active oncology treatment: phase II study

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Abstract

Background

During the past decade, there has been growing interest in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among cancer patients and it is being integrated more frequently within conventional cancer centers. The long-term effect of mind-body therapies on quality of life (QoL), depression, anxiety, and fatigue was tested prospectively in this study.

Patients and methods

Cancer patients who received six weekly sessions of CAM during their oncological treatments participated in the study. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI) and QoL-EORTC-C30 were completed during the intervention and follow-up period.

Results

Over a two-year period, 163 patients entered the study, 135 of whom completed all six CAM sessions. An improvement was demonstrated in the median of BFI from 4.8 to 3.9 (p < 0.001), HADS-Anxiety from 8 to 7 (p < 0.001) and HADS-Depression from 7 to 6 (p < 0.001) after 12 weeks. In addition, the median of global QoL improved from 50 to 67 (p < 0.001), and a significant improvement was noticed in several parameters on the functioning and symptoms scales of the QoL-EORTC-C30.

Conclusion

Cancer patients who completed six weekly sessions of CAM improved significantly on measured outcomes, regardless of their demographic characteristics.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Oncology, Rambam Health Care Campus, POB 9602, Haifa, 31096, Israel

    Gil Bar-Sela, Sara Danos, Bella Visel & Inbal Mitnik

  2. Quality Assurance Department, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel

    Tanya Mashiach

  3. Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

    Gil Bar-Sela

Authors
  1. Gil Bar-Sela
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  2. Sara Danos
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  3. Bella Visel
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  4. Tanya Mashiach
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  5. Inbal Mitnik
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Correspondence to Gil Bar-Sela.

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Bar-Sela, G., Danos, S., Visel, B. et al. The effect of complementary and alternative medicine on quality of life, depression, anxiety, and fatigue levels among cancer patients during active oncology treatment: phase II study. Support Care Cancer 23, 1979–1985 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-014-2560-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-014-2560-1

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