UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Review of systematic reviews of non-pharmacological interventions to improve quality of life in cancer survivors

Duncan, M; Moschopoulou, E; Herrington, E; Deane, J; Roylance, R; Jones, L; Bourke, L; ... SURECAN Investigators, .; + view all (2017) Review of systematic reviews of non-pharmacological interventions to improve quality of life in cancer survivors. BMJ Open , 7 (11) , Article e015860. 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-015860. Green open access

[thumbnail of Review of systematic reviews of non-pharmacological interventions to improve quality of life in cancer survivors.pdf]
Preview
Text
Review of systematic reviews of non-pharmacological interventions to improve quality of life in cancer survivors.pdf - Published Version

Download (682kB) | Preview

Abstract

Objectives: Over two million people in the UK are living with and beyond cancer. A third report diminished quality of life. Design: A review of published systematic reviews to identify effective non-pharmacological interventions to improve the quality of life of cancer survivors. / Data sources: Databases searched until May 2017 included PubMed, Cochrane Central, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Web of Science, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and PsycINFO. / Study selection: Published systematic reviews of randomised trials of non-pharmacological interventions for people living with and beyond cancer were included; included reviews targeted patients aged over 18. All participants had already received a cancer diagnosis. Interventions located in any healthcare setting, home or online were included. Reviews of alternative therapies or those non-English reports were excluded. Two researchers independently assessed titles, abstracts and the full text of papers, and independently extracted the data. / Outcomes: The primary outcome of interest was any measure of global (overall) quality of life. / Analytical methods: Quality assessment assessing methdological quality of systematic reviews (AMSTAR) and narrative synthesis, evaluating effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions and their components. / Results: Of 14 430 unique titles, 21 were included in the review of reviews. There was little overlap in the primary papers across these reviews. Thirteen reviews covered mixed tumour groups, seven focused on breast cancer and one focused on prostate cancer. Face-to-face interventions were often combined with online, telephone and paper-based reading materials. Interventions included physical, psychological or behavioural, multidimensional rehabilitation and online approaches. Yoga specifically, physical exercise more generally, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) programmes showed benefit in terms of quality of life. / Conclusions: Exercise-based interventions were effective in the short (less than 3–8 months) and long term. CBT and MBSR also showed benefits, especially in the short term. The evidence for multidisciplinary, online and educational interventions was equivocal.

Type: Article
Title: Review of systematic reviews of non-pharmacological interventions to improve quality of life in cancer survivors
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-015860
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-015860
Language: English
Additional information: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10100124
Downloads since deposit
74Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item