Effects of Qigong Therapy on Alleviating Symptoms in Cancer Patients: An Overview of Systematic Reviews

Abstract

Owing to the limitations and side effects of conventional cancer treatment, especially in relation to quality of life, patients are increasingly utilizing complementary and alternative medicine to supplement health-related outcomes. However, evidence for the safety and efficacy of such treatments is lacking. Qigong is often used to improve the symptoms of cancer patients, although scientific evidence is unclear. The aim of this chapter was to critically evaluate all systematic reviews (SRs) of Qigong for the symptomatic treatment of cancer. We searched 11 electronic databases including MEDLINE, Embase, AMED, the Cochrane Library, six Korean Medical Databases, and a Chinese Database and our departmental files without restrictions on time or language. The search terms involved the following MeSH terms: “Qigong” AND “systematic review OR meta-analysis” AND “cancer”. The methodological quality of all SRs was evaluated using the Overview Quality Assessment Questionnaire. Of 26 potentially relevant publications, five met our inclusion criteria. Three SRs evaluated the effects of both internal and external Qigong. One SR evaluated the effect of internal Qigong, and another evaluated external Qigong. The quality of the SRs was mixed but two SRs had minor flaws only. All SRs noted that the quality of most primary studies was poor. The conclusions of the five SRs were inconsistent. The poor quality SRs tended to draw positive conclusions, while the higher quality SRs failed to do so. More than 50% of the primary studies included in the SRs were not randomized and thus open to selection bias, which may be the primary reason for the inconsistency in the conclusions of the SRs. Overall, no clearly positive conclusions were identified. It follows that Qigong as a symptomatic treatment for cancer is currently not supported by sound evidence.