Moxibustion for Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Area of Science:

• Integrative Oncology
• Traditional Chinese Medicine
• Evidence-Based Medicine

Background:

• Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) significantly impacts patient quality of life.
• Moxibustion, a heat-based therapy stimulating acupoints, is explored for managing CINV.
• Existing evidence on moxibustion's efficacy for CINV requires systematic evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and meta-analyze the effectiveness of moxibustion for CINV.
• To compare moxibustion with no treatment, antiemetic drugs, and placebo moxibustion.
• To assess moxibustion as a complementary treatment alongside antiemetic drugs.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search across eight databases and two trial registries.
• Random-effects model meta-analysis to synthesize data.
• Calculation of risk ratios (RR) and mean differences (MD) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Main Results:

• Moxibustion showed a favorable effect in relieving CINV severity and frequency compared to no treatment (RR: 2.04, 95% CI: 1.42-2.93).
• Moxibustion demonstrated stronger effects than antiemetic drugs (RR: 1.87, 95% CI: 1.27-2.76).
• Actual moxibustion yielded better outcomes than placebo moxibustion (8.10 ± 10.98 vs. 46.67 ± 23.32).

Conclusions:

• Moxibustion appears to be a potentially effective intervention for managing CINV.
• Further high-quality clinical trials are necessary to confirm these findings due to current evidence limitations.
• Moxibustion's role as an adjunct to antiemetic drugs requires additional investigation.