Mindfulness interventions for physical and psychological outcomes in cancer patients and caregivers:non‐English literature may be lost in translation due to language bias

BackgroundFamily caregivers of patients with advanced cancer have been reported to provide long hours of care and be at risk for poor psychological outcomes. Although research has focused on the nature of caregiving burden, little attention has been paid to identifying protective factors that improve caregiver psychological outcomes.AimWe examined the relationship between caregivers’ time spent caregiving and the following psychological outcomes: anxiety, depression and caregiving esteem. Subsequently, we explored the main and moderating effects of caregiver-perceived self-competency and sense of meaning on caregiver psychological outcomes.Design/participantsCross-sectional analysis was conducted using the baseline data from an ongoing cohort study. Family caregivers of advanced cancer patients (n=287) were recruited from two tertiary hospitals in Singapore.ResultsTime spent caregiving was not significantly associated with caregiver anxiety, depression or caregiving esteem. However, significant main effects of self-competency on anxiety and caregiving esteem; and sense of meaning on anxiety, depression and caregiving esteem were observed. Moderator analyses further indicated that self-competency attenuated the positive relationship between time spent caregiving and anxiety, while sense of meaning attenuated the negative relationship between time spent caregiving and caregiving esteem.ConclusionGreater perceived self-competency and sense of meaning are related to better caregiver psychological outcomes, and protect caregivers from worsening outcomes as caregiving hours increase. Our findings suggest that screening caregivers for distress is an important part of care, and that supportive interventions for caregivers should aim to enhance their perceived caregiving competencies and the ability to make meaning of their caregiving role.

Download Full-text

The impact of music therapy versus music medicine on psychological outcomes and pain in cancer patients: a mixed methods study

Supportive Care in Cancer ◽

10.1007/s00520-014-2478-7 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 23 (5) ◽

pp. 1261-1271 ◽

Cited By ~ 59

Author(s):

Joke Bradt ◽

Noah Potvin ◽

Amy Kesslick ◽

Minjung Shim ◽

Donna Radl ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mixed Methods ◽

Music Therapy ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Psychological Outcomes ◽

Mixed Methods Study ◽

Music Medicine ◽

The Impact

Download Full-text

Psychological impact of exercise in women with breast cancer receiving adjuvant therapy: What is the optimal dose needed?

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2012.30.15_suppl.9074 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 30 (15_suppl) ◽

pp. 9074-9074

Author(s):

Marion Carayol ◽

Paquito Bernard ◽

Julie Boiche ◽

Francois Riou ◽

Betty Mercier ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Adjuvant Therapy ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Dose Response ◽

Exercise Intervention ◽

Optimal Dose ◽

Psychological Outcomes ◽

Breast Cancer Patients ◽

F Test ◽

Exercise Interventions

9074 Background: Several meta-analyses have examined the role of exercise interventions in improving psychological outcomes in cancer survivors but most did not focus on adjuvant therapy period and did not investigate the optimal dose of exercise needed. Methods: The present meta-analysis examines the impact of exercise interventions delivered at this particular period on fatigue, anxiety, depression and quality-of-life (QoL) as well as dose-response relationships between volume of prescribed exercise and these psychological outcomes. Randomized controlled trials that proposed an exercise intervention to breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy were systematically identified and coded. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) of psychological outcomes were weighted by the inverse of their variances to obtain a pooled estimate using random effects model. Linear and quadratic regressions were carried out to explore dose-response relationships. Results: In total, 17 studies involving 1380 participants and 20 exercise interventions were included. Intervention subjects significantly reduced their fatigue and depression levels showing pooled effect sizes (EF) and their associated 95% confidence interval (95%CI) of -0.28 [95%CI: -0.54; -0.03] and -0.28 [95%CI: -0.46; -0.09] respectively. Levels of anxiety also appeared to be reduced but pooled estimate did not reach significance (p=0.06). Significantly increased QoL was observed: EF=0.34 [95%CI: 0.07; 0.62] favouring intervention. Consistent and significant inverse associations of weekly and total volume of prescribed exercise were observed with fatigue (F test: p=0.04, R²=0.19 and p=0.009, R²=0.26 respectively) and QoL (F test: p=0.01, R²=0.14 and p=0.02, R²=0.29 respectively), implying that SMDs magnitude decreased as exercise dose increased. Conclusions: Exercise intervention enhanced fatigue, depression and QoL in breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant therapy. Prescription of relatively low doses of exercise (<12 MET.h per week) consisting in approximately 90-120 min of weekly moderate physical exercise seems more efficacious in improving fatigue and QoL than higher doses.

Download Full-text

Prognostic and clinicopathological importance of microRNA-140 expression in cancer patients: a meta-analysis

World Journal of Surgical Oncology ◽

10.1186/s12957-021-02380-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Mengxia Zheng ◽

Jingting Liu ◽

Chunyan Meng ◽

Kaifeng Tang ◽

Jianhua Liao

Keyword(s):

Cancer Patient ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

English Literature ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Positive Lymph Node ◽

The Body ◽

Cancer Prognosis ◽

Online Databases ◽

Hazard Ratios ◽

Patient Prognosis

Abstract Background MicroRNA-140 (miR-140) is one of the most widely investigated miRNAs in cell carcinogenesis and cancer development. Despite present proposals of employing miR-140 as a candidate biomarker for cancer prognosis, its effectiveness in predicting patient survival and clinicopathological outcome is still under debate. Methods A systematic search for English literature using online databases was performed with pre-established criteria. Odds ratios (ORs) or hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were collected to delineate the correlation between miR-140 levels and cancer patient prognosis. Results For this meta-analysis, we selected 12 papers for analysis, involving 1386 participants. Based on our analysis, high levels of miR-140 were strongly correlated with enhanced patient overall survival (OS) (HR = 0.728, 95% CI = 0.601-0.882, P = 0.001). In addition, we also observed that elevated miR-140 levels significantly led to better OS in patients with cancers in different parts of the body like digestive system (HR = 0.675, 95% CI = 0.538-0.848, P = 0.001), digestive tract (HR = 0.709, 95% CI = 0.565-0.889, P = 0.003), and head and neck (HR = 0.603, 95% CI = 0.456-0.797, P < 0.001). Additionally, we verified that the low miR-140 levels was related to advanced TNM stage (OR = 0.420, 95% CI = 0.299-0.590, P < 0.001), worse histologic grade (OR = 0.410, 95% CI = 0.261-0.643, P < 0.001), and positive lymph node metastasis status (OR = 0.341, 95% CI = 0.144-0.807, P = 0.014). Conclusions Taken together, our results suggest that elevated miR-140 levels can be employed as a favorable biomarker for cancer patient prognosis. This information can greatly benefit in the formation of an individualized therapeutic plan for the treatment of cancer patients.

Download Full-text