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Annals of Oncology Advance Access published online on October 30, 2009
Annals of Oncology, doi:10.1093/annonc/mdp479
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology].
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Impact of Medical Qigong on quality of life, fatigue, mood and inflammation in cancer patients: a randomized controlled trial

B. Oh1,2,3,*, P. Butow2, B. Mullan2, S. Clarke1,3, P. Beale1,3, N. Pavlakis1,4, E. Kothe5, L. Lam6 and D. Rosenthal7

1 Department of Medicine, Concord Repatriation General Hospital, University of Sydney, Concord
2 Center for Medical Psychology and Evidence-based Decision-making, School of Psychology, University of Sydney
3 Sydney Cancer Center, Concord Repatriation General Hospital
4 Department of Medical Oncology, Royal North Shore Hospital
5 School of Psychology, University of Sydney
6 School of Medical Sydney, Notre Dame University, NSW, Australia
7 Dana-Faber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

* Correspondence to: Dr B. Oh, Department of Medicine, Concord Repatriation General Hospital, University of Sydney, Concord, New South Wales 2139, Australia. Tel: +61-2-90-36-78-26; Fax: +61-2-93-51-54-88; E-mail: bsoh{at}med.usyd.edu.au

Background: Substantial numbers of cancer patients use complementary medicine therapies, even without a supportive evidence base. This study aimed to evaluate in a randomized controlled trial, the use of Medical Qigong (MQ) compared with usual care to improve the quality of life (QOL) of cancer patients.

Patients and methods: One hundred and sixty-two patients with a range of cancers were recruited. QOL and fatigue were measured by Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy—General and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy—Fatigue, respectively, and mood status by Profile of Mood State. The inflammatory marker serum C-reactive protein (CRP) was monitored serially.

Results: Regression analysis indicated that the MQ group significantly improved overall QOL (t144 = –5.761, P < 0.001), fatigue (t153 = –5.621, P < 0.001), mood disturbance (t122 =2.346, P = 0.021) and inflammation (CRP) (t99 = 2.042, P < 0.044) compared with usual care after controlling for baseline variables.

Conclusions: This study indicates that MQ can improve cancer patients’ overall QOL and mood status and reduce specific side-effects of treatment. It may also produce physical benefits in the long term through reduced inflammation.

cancer, fatigue, inflammation, mood, quality of life

Received for publication March 11, 2009. Revision received July 24, 2009. Accepted for publication August 31, 2009.


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