Effects of Panax Ginseng on Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Non-Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial Ginseng for HRQOL in Breast Cancer

Abstract

Being diagnosed with cancer and chemotherapy impose distressing symptoms on patients’ Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL). This study evaluated ginseng efficacy on improving multiple aspects of HRQOL in breast cancer patients. Forty women with non-metastatic early breast cancer were enrolled in the study. Participants received ginseng (1 g/day) or placebo with standard chemotherapy. HRQOL was evaluated via in-person interviews at baseline, two weeks after the second and last chemotherapy cycles. The FACT-B, a 37-item questionnaire composed of five subscales including physical well-being (PWB), social well-being (SWB), emotional well-being (EWB), functional well-being (FWB), and Breast Cancer Subscale (BCS) was employed to assess HRQOL. A considerable decreasing trend in the mean scores of all subscales, as well as the total score, was observed in the placebo group; nevertheless, the ginseng group experienced a slight decrease in the PWB subscale and a constant or even increasing trend in other subscales and total score. The differences in the mean change of scores during the study period were statistically significant in all domains between the two groups (all p-values < 0.001). Regular ginseng supplementation may provide beneficial effects on enhancing different aspects of HRQOL including PWB, SWB, EWB, FWB, and BCS in breast cancer patients. This study was registered in the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT, IRCT20141227020441N7) in Jan 2020.