Traditional Chinese therapies linked to improved sleep and mood in chemotherapy patients

Manual acupoint therapy ranked highest for improving overall quality of life (standardized mean difference [SMD] 2.29 vs. control; 95% confidence interval 0.95–3.63) and sleep quality (SMD -9.92 vs. auricular therapy). Auricular therapy showed the largest reduction in fatigue (SMD -8.13) and anxiety (SMD -1.53 vs. control). Mind-body exercise therapy was most effective for enhancing mood (SMD 0.72) and reducing depression (SMD -0.92). These effect sizes suggest meaningful clinical differences across symptom types, though the heterogeneity of included studies and variation in treatment protocols across trials limits how confidently results generalize to all chemotherapy populations. The findings suggest that different TCM therapies may target distinct chemotherapy-related symptoms most effectively.

The network meta-analysis ranked treatments using the Surface Under the Cumulative Ranking Curve (SUCRA), a method that accounts for direct and indirect comparisons across all trials. Manual acupoint therapy achieved a SUCRA of 63.4% for quality of life, indicating it performed consistently well relative to other interventions. Auricular therapy had near-perfect ranking (SUCRA 100%) for fatigue reduction, suggesting robust evidence for this specific symptom. Mind-body exercise therapy (SUCRA 68% for mood, 70.8% for depression) performed distinctly better for emotional outcomes than for physical symptoms, which may reflect its mechanism of action through stress reduction and breathing practices. A key limitation: effect sizes were often large (SMD >2.0), which can indicate real clinical benefit but may also reflect publication bias or selective reporting in smaller trials. The 35 included RCTs varied widely in treatment duration (typically 4–12 weeks), outcome measurement tools, and baseline patient characteristics (stage of cancer, chemotherapy type), all of which complicate direct comparison. Notably, no serious adverse events were reported across included studies, suggesting these TCM therapies have a favorable safety profile during chemotherapy.