The Effects of Complementary Therapies on Patient-Reported Outcomes: An Overview of Recent Systematic Reviews in Oncology.

Many patients with cancer make use of complementary medicine alongside conventional medicine, but clinicians in oncology often lack the knowledge to adequately advise patients on the evidence base for complementary therapies. This study aims to provide an overview of recently published systematic reviews that assess the effects of complementary therapies on patient-reported health outcomes in patients with cancer. Systematic reviews, including a meta-analysis of at least two randomized controlled trials, were identified from the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CINAHL and PsycINFO databases. The methodological quality was assessed with AMSTAR 2. One hundred systematic reviews were included. The results suggest that several complementary therapies can improve health outcomes reported by patients with cancer, such as acupuncture to relieve pain, music interventions to reduce anxiety and yoga to improve cancer-related fatigue. The side effects related to complementary therapy use are generally mild. The results remain inconclusive for some intervention-outcome combinations. Many of the included systematic reviews insufficiently assessed the causes and impact of bias in their interpretation of the results. This overview of systematic reviews can support clinicians in counselling their patients on this topic and provide directions for future research and clinical practice guidelines in the field of complementary medicine.

Lessons for Employing Participatory Design When Developing Care for Young People with Cancer: A Qualitative Multiple-Case Study.

Purpose: Participatory design (PD) is a collective creative design process involving designers and nondesigners. There is limited reporting on the experience of using PD for adolescent and young adult (AYA) care. This study summarizes lessons from employing PD to develop care for AYAs with cancer. Methods: A qualitative multiple-case study method was conducted of three PD processes addressing food (FfC), intimacy and sexuality (I&S), and integrative medicine (IM) in caring for AYAs with cancer. Results: Local key stakeholders, who were exposed to a problem and had not been successful at solving it individually, were recruited to "dream" together. Through this synergy, a shared understanding of the problem and a joint mission emerged to find a solution. PD tools were used to develop a problem definition. An open mind and explorative research helped to understand the problems, and stakeholders were managed such that idea-sharing and learning were enabled. Designers translated ideas into prototypes. The PD process was prolonged due to the hierarchical hospital environment, business considerations, and additionally required evidence. The FfC program produced an effective new food service for the whole hospital. The I&S initiative developed a podcast, two articles, and a prototype website. The IM project developed a pilot study. Conclusions: For a PD process to successfully develop care for AYAs, one needs to use designers and skilled people, PD tools, and an open-ended approach to visualize and materialize new forms of care. Furthermore, recruitment and facilitation techniques help leverage knowledge and create a synergy in a democratic environment between stakeholders.

A review on the putative association between beta-blockers and depression.

Several kinds of systematic studies have been conducted verifying the putative association between ß-blockers and depressive symptoms. However, many of these studies had important limitations in their design. In most of the studies, no effect of ß-blockers on depressive symptoms was seen. Because individual susceptibility cannot be ruled out, clinicians must stay vigilant, especially with patients who have a positive personal or family history and who have been prescribed lipophilic ß-blockers. However, fear for depression should not be the reason for reluctance in prescribing ß-blockers to cardiovascular patients.

Beta-blockers and depression after myocardial infarction: a multicenter prospective study.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this research was to explore the prospective relationship between the use of beta-blockers and depression in myocardial infarction (MI) patients. BACKGROUND: Beta-blocker use has been reported to be associated with the development of depression, but the methodological quality of studies in this field is weak. METHODS: In a multicenter study, MI patients (n = 127 non-beta-blocker users and n = 254 beta-blocker users) were assessed for depressive symptoms (using the Beck Depression Inventory [BDI] at baseline and t = 3, 6, and 12 months post-MI) and International Classification of Diseases-10 depressive disorder (Composite International Diagnostic Interview). Patients were matched using the frequency matching procedure according to age, gender, hospital of admission, presence of baseline depressive symptoms, and left ventricular function. RESULTS: No significant differences were found between non-beta-blocker users and beta-blocker users on the presence of depressive symptoms (p > 0.10 at any of the time points) or depressive disorder (p = 0.86). Controlling for confounders did not alter these findings. A trend toward increasing BDI scores was seen in patients with long-term use of beta-blockers and patients with higher beta-blocker dose. CONCLUSIONS: In post-MI patients, prescription of beta-blockers is not associated with an increase in depressive symptoms or depressive disorders in the first year after MI. However, long-term and high-dosage effects cannot be ruled out.