Acupuncture Times Your guide to acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine and TCM — explore acupoints, herbs and formulas, plus the latest acupuncture research news.
Related Articles
Lung cancer is associated with significant symptom burden, including fatigue, depression, and reduced quality of life. Non-pharmacological interventions — meaning treatments that do not involve medication — are increasingly used alongside conventional care, but it has been unclear which approaches work best for which outcomes.
This network meta-analysis searched six major databases up to May 2025, identifying 58 randomised controlled trials that together evaluated 13 distinct non-pharmacological interventions in lung cancer patients. Researchers conducted both pairwise and network meta-analyses to rank the interventions according to their effectiveness in reducing fatigue and depression, and in improving overall quality of life.
Acupuncture emerged as the top-ranked intervention for reducing cancer-related fatigue, followed by acceptance and commitment therapy and nutritional intervention. For depression, acceptance and commitment therapy ranked first, ahead of cognitive behavioural therapy and body-mind-spirit intervention. Acceptance and commitment therapy also led the rankings for quality of life improvement, with nutritional intervention and mind-body exercise rounding out the top three. Acupuncture did not rank prominently for depression or quality of life outcomes.
The authors suggest that healthcare professionals should consider incorporating these highly ranked non-pharmacological interventions into lung cancer care to improve patient outcomes.
Conclusion: This network meta-analysis found acupuncture to be the highest-ranked non-pharmacological intervention for fatigue in lung cancer patients, though acceptance and commitment therapy showed broader benefits across fatigue, depression, and quality of life.
Source: Duan L, Zhang S, Su Y et al. Worldviews on evidence-based nursing (2026). View on PubMed (PMID 42163071) · doi:10.1111/wvn.70150