Table 1.
Clinical trials on mistletoe treatment of cancer that also evaluated influence on fatigue (secondary outcome measure).
| Sample size | Study type | Primary study question | Assessment of fatigue/tiredness | Results on fatigue/tiredness* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studies on mistletoe application | ||||
| 233 | RCT (mistletoe vs. Lentinan) |
QoL | TCM-score | Improvement and advantage (total TCM score significant) |
| 272 | RCT, double-blind (mistletoe vs. placebo) |
QoL (GLQ-8, Spitzer uniscale) | 1) GLQ-8 2) EORTC QLQ-C30 |
1) Significant advantage 2) No differences of total score |
| 352 | RCT, double-blind (mistletoe vs. placebo) |
QoL (FACT-G) | GLQ-8 | Significant advantage |
| 399 | RCT, open (mistletoe vs. no mistletoe) |
Disease-free survival | EORTC QLQ-C30 |
No advantage |
| 25 | Phase II trial (single-arm) |
Tumor response | Statement | Improvement |
| 804 | Retrolective comparative epidemiological cohort study (mistletoe vs. no mistletoe) | Adverse drug reactions from conventional cancer drugs, disease symptoms, functional capacity, hospitalization | Statement | Improvement and significant advantage |
| Retrolective comparative epidemiological cohort study (mistletoe vs. no mistletoe) | Adverse drug reactions from conventional cancer drugs, disease symptoms, functional capacity, hospitalization | Statement | Improvement and significant advantage | |
| 1442 | Retrolective comparative epidemiological cohort study (mistletoe vs. no mistletoe) | Adverse drug reactions from conventional cancer drugs | Statement | Improvement and significant advantage |
| 1248 | Retrolective comparative epidemiological cohort study (mistletoe vs. no mistletoe) | Adverse drug reactions from conventional cancer drugs | Statement | Significant advantage |
| Studies on whole-system AM care including mistletoe application | ||||
| 120 (44) | Matched pair study (AM versus conventional care) | QoL | EORTC QLQ-C30 |
Improvement and small advantage |
| 110 | Sinlge-arm observational study | QoL | EORTC QLQ-C30 |
Significant improvement |
For references see [17].
* Improvement refers to pre-post difference; advantage refers to difference of pre-post-changes between comparison groups
Abbreviations: RCT: randomised controlled trial; QoL: Quality of life; AM: anthroposophic medicine; TCM: Traditional Chinese Medicine Index; GLQ-8: Global Quality of Life Scale; FACT-G: Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General; EORTC QLQ-C30: European Organization for Research and Treatment Core Quality of Life Questionnaire.
Not considered were indirect measurement of fatigue/tiredness, e.g. "I am forced to spend time in bed". Not included are three studies that also used quality of life evaluation tools including questions on fatigue but that did not present any details on fatigue: two small comparative trials using EORTC QLQ-30, one of which reported an advantage, the other one not. One single-arm trial used SF-36 and reported an improvement.