by Yawen Xu, Jiangxuan Yu, Rui Shen, Xueqi Shan, Wenlu Zhou, Junjie Wang
ObjectiveAlthough several acupuncture and moxibustion therapies have been tested in managing breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL), there is little consensus regarding the best options for treating this condition. This systematic review and network meta-analysis compared the efficacy of various acupuncture and/or moxibustion therapies for BCRL.
MethodsSeven databases and two clinical registration centers were searched from their inception to December 1st, 2023. The Cochrane Collaboration risk-of-bias assessment tool evaluated the quality of included RCTs. A pairwise meta-analysis was performed in STATA 16.0, while a network meta-analysis was performed in R 4.2.2.
Results18 studies were included in this analysis. Our results showed that acupuncture and moxibustion methods had great advantages in improving BCRL of patients with breast cancer. In particular, needle-warming moxibustion (NWM) could be the optimal acupuncture and moxibustion method for improving clinical effectiveness and reducing the degree of swelling of affected limbs.
ConclusionOur findings suggest that NWM has great potential in treating BCRL. It may reduce arm circumference, lower swelling levels, and improve clinical effectiveness. Nevertheless, more multi-center, high-quality, and large sample RCTs will be needed in the future.
This study aimed to explore the psychosocial adjustment of enterostomy patients on a national scale.
Based on a national cross-sectional survey.
From December 2021 and February 2023, a total of 22,040 enterostomy patients were assessed using the ostomy adjustment inventory-20. Initial analysis involved employing the chi-square test or Kruskal-Wallis H test to identify factors influencing the psychosocial adjustment of these patients. Subsequently, multinomial logistic regression was used to determine the factors affecting the classification of psychosocial adjustment levels of enterostomy patients. The reporting of this study adhered to the STROBE checklist.
Eventually 21,124 patients with enterostomy were included in this study, out of which 7788 (36.9%) patients with low level of psychosocial adjustment, 11,803 (55.8%) patients with medium level of psychosocial adjustment and 1533 (7.3%) patients with high level of psychosocial adjustment. The factors influencing the classification of psychosocial adjustment levels of enterostomy patients were gender, educational background, carer, enterostomy self-care knowledge score and medical payment method.
The overall psychosocial adjustment level of enterostomy patients is not optimistic, and the factors that may affect the classification of their psychosocial adjustment level are analysed. Individualised intervention should be given according to different psychosocial adjustment levels of enterostomy patients.
The number of enterostomy patients with a high level of psychosocial adjustment is small in relation to the total number of enterostomy patients, and caregivers can provide health education to enterostomy patients by analysing the factors affecting the level of psychosocial adjustment of enterostomy patients.
None.