Cancer cachexia: a Scoping Review on Non-Pharmacological Interventions

Objective Cancer cachexia occurs in 30-80% of patients, increasing morbidity and mortality and impacting the health-related quality of life also for caregivers. Pharmacological interventions have been studied, but have shown inconsistent effects on patients' lives in terms of relative outcomes and poor adherence to pharmacological treatment. We provide an overview of the evidence on non-pharmacological interventions for cancer cachexia. Methods We conducted a scoping review based on PRISMA-ScR. On September 21, 2022, plus an update on January 10, 2024, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane, PsycINFO, and Scopus for 2012-2024. We excluded pharmacological interventions defined as “any substance, inorganic or organic, natural or synthetic, that can produce functional modifications, through a chemical, physicochemical or physical action.” Results The search retrieved 9,308 articles, of which 17 were eligible. Non-pharmacological interventions included nutritional counseling, complementary therapies (acupuncture), rehabilitation, and psychoeducational/psychosocial support. The data showed small and heterogeneous samples and different disease localization and stages. Thirty-nine percent were multimodal interventions and aimed at patients, not families. The common primary outcomes were body weight and composition, biomarkers, quality of life, psychological suffering, and muscular strength. Only two studies focus on the patient-caregiver dyad. Conclusions Interventions on cancer cachexia should be multimodal and multi-professional, proposed early, and aimed at quality of life outcomes. The caregiver’s involvement is essential. Nurses can play an active role in managing cancer cachexia. More well-designed studies are needed to understand the efficacy and contents of non-pharmacological interventions.