Prophylactic and therapeutic effects of honey on radiochemotherapy-induced mucositis: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Abstract

Oral mucositis is a common side effect of radiochemotherapy and may adversely affect the patients' quality of life (QoL). Honey application may reduce the mucositis grade in patients. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the prophylactic and therapeutic effects of honey on radiochemotherapy-induced oral mucositis.

A systematic review of interventions to mitigate radiotherapy-induced oral mucositis in head and neck cancer patients

“…Primary outcome measure (oral mucositis measures) Nine out of the twelve studies measured the incidence of severe OM. Seven of these studies [13][14][15][16][17][18][19] found statistically significantly fewer patients in the honey group had severe OM; the other two studies [20,21] found no statistically significant difference between the groups. Four studies [16][17][18]21] measured onset of OM.…”

“…Two studies measured the difference in OM grade between the intervention and control groups. One study [22], a SR, reviewed 17 studies and found a lower OM grade in the honey group in 12 out of the 17 studies; the other study [19] found no statistically significant difference between the groups. One study [23] measured incidence of OM and found a statistically significant lower incidence of OM over the course of treatment.…”

“…One study [23] measured incidence of OM and found a statistically significant lower incidence of OM over the course of treatment. One study [19] measured the number of OM lesions and found statistically significantly fewer OM lesions in the honey group.…”

“…Secondary outcome measures Six studies measured pain. Three of these studies [17,19,24] found statistically significantly lower pain scores in the honey group; one SR [22] reported that four out of the five studies it reviewed found lower pain scores in the honey groups; two studies [13,20] found no statistically significant difference in pain scores between the groups. Six studies measured weight loss.…”

The effect of adjuvant oral application of honey in the management of postoperative pain after tonsillectomy in adults: A pilot study

“…Studies investigating the effects of honey on tonsillectomy included Tualang honey from Southeast Asia [20,18], unprocessed, pure honey from Malaysia [21], flower honey of thyme and tragacanth plants [16] and commercially available more or less undefined honey [17,29]. Several studies described, that honey application, even on inflamed oral mucosa, is a painless procedure [30,31]. The type of honey does not seem to have a significant impact on the results.…”