Dyspnoea is a common symptom in advanced cancer, with a prevalence of up to 70% among
patients at end of life. The cause of dyspnoea is often multifactorial, and may cause
considerable psychological distress and suffering. Dyspnoea is often undertreated
and good symptom control is less frequently achieved in people with dyspnoea than
in people with other symptoms of advanced cancer, such as pain and nausea. The exact
mechanism of action of corticosteroids in managing dyspnoea is unclear, yet corticosteroids
are commonly used in palliative care for a variety of non‐specific indications, including
pain, nausea, anorexia, fatigue and low mood, despite being associated with a wide
range of adverse effects. In view of their widespread use, it is important to seek
evidence of the effects of corticosteroids for the management of cancer‐related dyspnoea.
To assess the effects of systemic corticosteroids for the management of cancer‐related
breathlessness (dyspnoea) in adults. We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL,
Science Citation Index Web of Science, Latin America and Caribbean Health Sciences
(LILACS) and clinical trial registries, from inception to 25 January 2018. We included
randomised controlled trials that included adults aged 18 years and above. We included
participants with cancer‐related dyspnoea when randomised to systemic corticosteroids
(at any dose) administered for the relief of cancer‐related dyspnoea or any other
indication, compared to placebo, standard or alternative treatment. Five review authors
independently assessed trial quality and three extracted data. We used means and standard
deviations for each outcome to report the mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence
interval (CI). We assessed the risk of bias and quality of evidence using GRADE. We
extracted primary outcomes of sensory‐perceptual experience of dyspnoea (intensity
of dyspnoea), affective distress (quality of dyspnoea) and symptom impact (burden
of dyspnoea or impact on function) and secondary outcomes of serious adverse events,
participant satisfaction with treatment and participant withdrawal from trial. Two
studies met the inclusion criteria, enrolling 157 participants (37 participants in
one study and 120 in the other study), of whom 114 were included in the analyses.
The studies compared oral dexamethasone to placebo, followed by an open‐label phase
in one study. One study lasted seven days, and the duration of the other study was
15 days. We were unable to conduct many of our predetermined analyses due to different
agents, dosages, comparators and outcome measures, routes of drug delivery, measurement
scales and time points. Subgroup analysis according to type of cancer was not possible.
Primary outcomes We included two studies (114 participants) with data at one week
in the meta‐analysis for change in dyspnoea intensity/dyspnoea relief from baseline.
Corticosteroid therapy with dexamethasone resulted in an MD of lower dyspnoea intensity
compared to placebo at one week (MD –0.85 lower dyspnoea (scale 0–10; lower score
= less breathlessness), 95% CI ‐1.73 to 0.03; very low‐quality evidence), although
we were uncertain as to whether corticosteroids had an important effect on dyspnoea
as results were imprecise. We downgraded the quality of evidence by three levels from
high to very low due to very serious study limitations and imprecision. One study
measured affective distress (quality of dyspnoea) and results were similar between
groups (29 participants; very low‐quality evidence). We downgraded the quality of
the evidence three times for imprecision, inconsistency, and serious study limitations.
Both studies assessed symptom impact (burden of dyspnoea or impact on function) (113
participants; very low‐quality evidence). In one study, it was unclear whether dexamethasone
had an effect on dyspnoea as results were imprecise. The second study showed more
improvement for physical well‐being scores at days eight and 15 in the dexamethasone
group compared with the control group, but there was no evidence of a difference for
FACIT social/family, emotional or functional scales. We downgraded the quality of
the evidence three times for imprecision, inconsistency, and serious study limitations.
Secondary outcomes Due to the lack of homogenous outcome measures and inconsistency
in reporting, we could not perform quantitative analysis for any secondary outcomes.
In both studies, the frequency of adverse events was similar between groups, and corticosteroids
were generally well tolerated. The withdrawal rates for the two studies were 15% and
36%. Reasons for withdrawal included lost to follow‐up, participant or carer (or both)
refusal, and death due to disease progression. We downgraded the quality of evidence
for these secondary outcomes by three levels from high to very low due to serious
study limitations, inconsistency and imprecision. Neither study examined participant
satisfaction with treatment. There are few studies assessing the effects of systemic
corticosteroids on cancer‐related dyspnoea in adults with cancer. We judged the evidence
to be of very low quality that neither supported nor refuted corticosteroid use in
this population. Further high‐quality studies are needed to determine if corticosteroids
are efficacious in this setting. Corticosteroids for the management of cancer‐related
breathlessness in adults with cancer Background Breathlessness (dyspnoea) is a common
symptom in advanced cancer. Breathlessness may be due to a combination of different
causes including lung cancer, metastatic disease elsewhere in the body (for example,
cancer in the abdomen pushing up the diaphragm), or cancer‐related conditions affecting
the nerves or muscles associated with breathing. Pain and psychological conditions
(such as fear and anxiety) or pre‐existing lung disease may make symptoms worse. People
with cancer report breathlessness is associated with higher psychological distress
and poorer quality of life. Medicines can be used to treat breathlessness in this
population, and one common medicine used is corticosteroids. In this review, we evaluated
how effective systemic corticosteroids are in treating cancer‐related breathlessness
in adults, compared to any control. Study characteristics We searched the literature
in January 2018. We found two studies, enrolling 157 participants in total, that tested
the effect of systemic corticosteroids on breathlessness in adults with cancer, compared
to a dummy medicine (placebo). One study lasted seven days, and the other study lasted
15 days. Both studies compared a corticosteroid (oral (by mouth) dexamethasone) to
a dummy medicine with no properties to reduce breathlessness, which we included in
our analyses. We were interested in the primary outcomes of participant‐reported breathlessness
intensity, quality and burden. We were also interested in the secondary outcomes of
serious side effects, participant satisfaction with treatment and participant withdrawal
from trial. Key results We could not complete many of our planned analyses due to
the small number of studies, the different medicines and comparisons, and outcomes
that the studies reported. We did conduct one analysis of 114 participants to assess
change in breathlessness intensity/relief from baseline. We found that corticosteroids
had no beneficial effect compared to a dummy medicine on reducing breathlessness intensity
in people with cancer. We found that the frequency of side effects was similar between
groups, and corticosteroids were generally well tolerated. None of the studies measured
participant satisfaction with treatment. Participant withdrawals were 15% and 36%
in the two studies. Quality of evidence The current evidence was based on only two
studies with a small number of participants. We rated the quality of the evidence
from these studies using four levels: very low, low, moderate or high. Very low‐quality
evidence means that we are very uncertain about the results. High‐quality evidence
means that we are very confident in the results. We judged the quality of the evidence
in this review to be very low, downgraded due to problems with study quality and too
few data. We are very uncertain of the results. More high‐quality studies are needed
to determine if corticosteroids are effective for dyspnoea in people with cancer.