SynthesisSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2019
Prophylactic and therapeutic effects of honey on radiochemotherapy-induced mucositis: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Synthesis in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Therapeutic Interventions to Manage Oral Mucositis and Their Impact on Quality of Life in Cancer Patients: An Umbrella Review.Pain research & management · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review of interventions to mitigate radiotherapy-induced oral mucositis in head and neck cancer patients.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2021Pooled it
- Honey in Alleviating Severe Oral Mucositis Among Head and Neck Cancer Patients Undergoing Radiation Therapy.In vivo (Athens, Greece)Pooled it
- Health Effects of Bee Products: A Comprehensive Review.Food science & nutrition · 2026Review
- Unlocking the Healing Potential: A Comprehensive Review of Ecology and Biology of Medical-Grade Honey in Wound Management and Tissue Regeneration.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Evidence summary on managing radiotherapy-induced oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer.Asia-Pacific journal of oncology nursing · 2024Review
- Development and Validation of a Food Frequency Questionnaire for Evaluating the Nutritional Status of Patients with Cancer.Nutrients · 2023Article
- Oral Mucositis Induced by Chemoradiotherapy in Head and Neck Cancer-A Short Review about the Therapeutic Management and the Benefits of Bee Honey.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022Review
- State of Rehabilitation Research in the Head and Neck Cancer Population: Functional Impact vs. Impairment-Focused Outcomes.Current oncology reports · 2022Review
- Use of Honey in the Management of Chemotherapy-Associated Oral Mucositis in Paediatric Patients.Cancer management and research · 2022Review
- Medical-Grade Honey Outperforms Conventional Treatments for Healing Cold Sores-A Clinical Study.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Treating (Recurrent) Vulvovaginal Candidiasis with Medical-Grade Honey-Concepts and Practical Considerations.Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Modern Methods for Assessing the Quality of Bee Honey and Botanical Origin Identification.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Review
- The effect of adjuvant oral application of honey in the management of postoperative pain after tonsillectomy in adults: A pilot study.PloS one · 2020Article
- Using Bee Products for the Prevention and Treatment of Oral Mucositis Induced by Cancer Treatment.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeOral mucositis is a common side effect of radiochemotherapy and may adversely affect the patients' quality of life (QoL). Honey application may reduce the mucositis grade in patients. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the prophylactic and therapeutic effects of honey on radiochemotherapy-induced oral mucositis.
methodsPublications on RCTs were extracted from the PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library databases. The primary outcomes were mucositis grades and pain scores. Secondary outcomes were the recovery time and QoL. The study was registered with PROSPERO (number CRD42018108486).
resultsNineteen RCTs, involving 1276 patients, were reviewed. Honey considerably mitigated oral mucositis in both prophylactic and therapeutic phases. In the prophylactic phase, intolerable mucositis development was significantly prevented in the honey-treated group (RR = 0.18, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.09 to 0.41). Patients treated with honey showed significant decrease in pain scores in the first month of treatment (weighted mean difference [WMD] = - 3.25, 95% CI = - 4.41 to - 2.09) and at the end of the treatment (WMD = - 2.32, 95% CI = - 4.47 to - 0.18).
conclusionHoney, which is relatively cheap and easily available, prevented mucositis and effectively mitigate mucositis in patients after radiochemotherapy. Moreover, it significantly reduced the mucositis grade and engendered a fast and painless healing process. Therefore, honey use during and after radiochemotherapy is recommended for mucositis prevention and treatment.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.