Table 2.
Characteristics of included review studies.
| Author (Year) | Cancer Site Age Treatment Status | Mind–Body Intervention | Outcome | Study Designs Number of Studies (N) | Main Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bleakley & Stinson (2011) [21] | Breast 18–70 During and after treatment | Yoga Visualization Therapeutic massage Guided imagery Relaxation | Global QoL | RCT N = 4 Non-RCT N = 3 Cross-sectional N = 1 |
Four out of eight studies concluded that body–mind therapies had a positive effect on patients’ QoL. |
| Buffart et al. (2012) ** [22] | Breast 44–63 During and after treatment | Yoga | Global QoL HRQoL | RCT N = 13 | Yoga had a large beneficial effect on anxiety and depression, a moderate but significant effect on HRQoL and fatigue and no significant effects on physical function. |
| Cramer et al. (2012) ** [23] | Breast 44–63 During and after treatment | Yoga | Global QoL | RCT N = 10 | Yoga had a short-term effect of moderate size on global QoL, and a short-term effect of small size on functional, social and spiritual quality of life. No evidence for longer-term effects of yoga in breast cancer patients and survivors were found. |
| Harder et al. (2012) * [24] | Breast 45-63 During and after treatment | Yoga | Global QoL | RCT N = 18 | Yoga had moderate-to-large effects on global and emotional QoL. The effect of yoga was greatest among patients with most yoga classes. |
| Lee et al. (2007) * [17] | Breast 30–78 During treatment | Tai Chi Chuan | HRQoL | RCT N = 3 Non-RCT N = 1 | Positive effect of tai chi chuan was detected in self-esteem. |
| Levine & Balk (2012) [25] | Breast n.r. During and after treatment | Yoga | Global QoL | RCT N = 8 Non-RCT N = 2 |
Positive effects on global QoL, on symptoms of illness and treatment side-effects. Reduced fatigue and improved sleep quality, and positive results in physical, social and functional adaptation. |
| Pan et al. (2015) ** [19] | Breast 49–65 During treatment | Tai Chi Chuan | Global QoL HRQoL | RCT N = 9 | Tai chi chuan led to no substantial improvement in HRQoL, or global HRQoL. |
| Pan et al. (2017) ** [18] | Breast 30–70 During treatment | Yoga | HRQoL | RCT N = 16 | Yoga significantly improved overall HRQoL but had limited effect on physical well-being. Intervention duration >3 months showed better QoL. |
| Shneerson et al. (2013) ** [15] | Breast ≥18 After treatment | Yoga Qigong Meditation Mindfulness | Global QoL | RCT N = 13 | Yoga had significant effects on global and mental QoL, but not on physical QoL. One study found significant effect of qigong on all QoL domains. |
| Stan et al. (2012) [16] | Breast n.r. After treatment | Yoga Tai Chi Chuan Qigong | Global QoL | RCT N = 23 Non-RCT N = 2 One-arm pilot N = 10 | Yoga had statistically significant or trending toward significant effects. No strong evidence was found for effect from tai chi chuan and qigong. |
| Zhang et al. (2012) ** [20] | Breast ≥30 years old During treatment | Yoga | Global QoL | RCT N = 6 | Yoga resulted in a statistically significant effect. |
QoL—quality of life; RCT—randomized, controlled trial; HRQoL—health related quality of life; n.r.—not reported, *—systematic review; **—meta-analysis/systematic review.