Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33749151›Full record

SynthesisCancer medicine2021

Symptom clusters experienced by breast cancer patients at various treatment stages: A systematic review.

Winnie K W So, Bernard M H Law, Marques S N Ng, Xiaole He, Dorothy N S Chan, Carmen W H Chan, Alexandra L McCarthy

Registry-linked trialOpen access · goldAbstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Cancer medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07481903 (Effect of Acupuncture on Psychoneurological Symptom Cluster in Breast Cancer Survivors), which is not on this map. Cited by 95 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
95citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
8.5field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

NCT07481903 nanot yet recruitingnot on this mapstarted 2026, after this paper: background citation

Effect of Acupuncture on Psychoneurological Symptom Cluster in Breast Cancer Survivors

TypeinterventionalSponsorFirst Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese MedicineRan2026 to 2028Enrolled228ConditionsPsychoneurological Symptom Cluster(Pain, Insomnia, Anxiety, Fatigue, Depression, Subjective Cognitive Decline), Pain, Insomnia, AnxietyArmselectroacupuncture, sham electroacupuncture
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

95 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 158 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Health-related quality of life domains relevant to people in Europe undergoing cancer treatment: a systematic review of qualitative research.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2026
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  14. Yoga and meditation for menopausal symptoms in breast cancer survivors: a qualitative study exploring participants' experiences.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2024
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35 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Winnie K W SoThe Nethersole School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.ORCID 0000-0001-9243-2924
Bernard M H LawThe Nethersole School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.ORCID 0000-0001-9571-6893
Marques S N NgThe Nethersole School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.ORCID 0000-0002-1520-1783
Xiaole HeThe Nethersole School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Dorothy N S ChanThe Nethersole School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Carmen W H ChanThe Nethersole School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Alexandra L McCarthySchool of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, University of Queensland and Mater Health Services, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Chinese University of Hong Kong · HKMater Health Services · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Breast cancer patients often experience symptoms that adversely affect their quality of life. It is understood that many of these symptoms tend to cluster together: while they might have different manifestations and occur during different phases of the disease trajectory, the symptoms often have a common aetiology that is a potential target for intervention. Understanding the symptom clusters associated with breast cancer might usefully inform the development of effective care plans for affected patients. The aim of this paper is to provide an updated systematic review of the known symptom clusters among breast cancer patients during and/or after cancer treatment. A search was conducted using five databases for studies reporting symptom clusters among breast cancer patients. The search yielded 32 studies for inclusion. The findings suggest that fatigue-sleep disturbance and psychological symptom cluster (including anxiety, depression, nervousness, irritability, sadness, worry) are the most commonly-reported symptom clusters among breast cancer patients. Further, the composition of symptom clusters tends to change across various stages of cancer treatment. While this review identified some commonalities, the different methodologies used to identify symptom clusters resulted in inconsistencies in symptom cluster identification. It would be useful if future studies could separately examine the symptom clusters that occur in breast cancer patients undergoing a particular treatment type, and use standardised instruments across studies to assess symptoms. The review concludes that further studies could usefully determine the biological pathways associated with various symptom clusters, which would inform the development of effective and efficient symptom management strategies.

Indexed as

Breast NeoplasmsDepressionFatigueFemaleHumansPsychometricsSleep Wake DisordersSymptom Assessmentbreast cancercancer treatmentsymptom clusterssymptoms

Identifiers

PMID33749151
PMCPMC8026944
OpenAlexW3139406911

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

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.