BACKGROUND
Although the survival rate of cancer patients has been increasing, such patients often experience severe physical and psychological burdens due to the effects of the disease itself and therapy. Multiple virtual reality (VR)-based interventions have been used to help improve physical and psychological symptoms and quality of life in cancer patients.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to assess the effects of VR-based interventions on anxiety, pain, depression, fatigue, fear, distress, and quality of life in cancer patients.
METHODS
We conducted comprehensive searches in the PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Scopus and APA PsycINFO databases from their inception to 12 July 2022. Two reviewers independently selected studies and extracted articles that met strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. Quality assessments of the included studies were performed according to the Cochrane risk assessment tool, and data analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4 software.
RESULTS
A total of 20 studies were included in this review, and 15 (75%) were selected for meta-analysis. The results showed a significant difference between the VR and control groups for anxiety (standard mean difference [SMD] =−1.01, 95% CI −1.55 to −0.48, P<0.001), pain (SMD= −0.80, 95% CI −1.27 to −0.32, P<0.001), depression (SMD=−1.78, 95% CI −3.26 to −0.30, P=0.02), fear (MD=−0.82, 95% CI −1.60 to −0.03, P=0.04), distress (SMD=−1.16, 95% CI −1.96 to −0.37, P=0.004), and fatigue (SMD=−2.47, 95% CI −2.92 to −2.02, P<0.001). However, no significant difference was observed in quality of life (SMD=1.01, 95% CI −0.67 to 2.70, P=0.24).
CONCLUSIONS
VR interventions were effective in improving physical and psychological symptoms in cancer patients. Due to the limited number of studies, small sample sizes, and moderate to high heterogeneity, these results should be interpreted with caution. More rigorous, comprehensive and high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are needed to validate the results of this study.
CLINICALTRIAL
PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD42022304931；https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?RecordID=304931