Honey or Olive Oil for Treating Oral Mucositis in Children and Adults With Leukemia Receiving Intensive Chemotherapy

Summary

Background: Oral mucositis (OM) is a significant complication occurring in approximately 40% of patients on chemotherapy regimens. Ulcerative lesions of OM can be very painful, with negative impact on diet, oral hygiene, and quality of life. Although a wide variety of agents have been tested to prevent OM or reduce its severity, none have provided conclusive evidence. Objectives of this study will be: to determine the efficacy of honey or olive oil on the severity and pain of OM compared to placebo (standard care) and, (2) to assess which of the two interventions is more beneficial. Research Questions: 1. Children/adults who receive honey (group 1) or olive oil (group 2) will have less severe OM compared to the control group (Severity is measured by recovery time from OM and is the primary outcome) 2. Children/adults who receive honey (group 1) OR Olive oil (group 2) will have less pain than the control group. (Severity of pain is the secondary outcome Methods: A randomized controlled study (RCT) will be used to evaluate the effect of topical application of honey or olive oil, in the treatment of chemotherapy-related OM in 60 participants with OM. The primary outcome will be the severity of mucositis, assessed by four trained nurses blinded to the study group using the scale presented by the World Health Organization (WHO). The secondary outcome will be pain also assessed by the four trained nurses on the visual analogue scale ort eh Wong Faces scale. The relevance of this study lies in the possibility of challenging nurses in regard to the problem of OM and in proving a possible herbal cure that may influence clinical practice. Data analysis: The characteristics of the three groups will be described using mean and SD, frequencies and percentages. Baseline differences between the two groups will be tested using ANOVA for continuous data, and the Chi-square for categorical data. Kruskall-Wallis (chi square) test will be used to find the association group assignment and WHO grades of OM and ANOVA and RANOVA tests will be used to find the association between group assignment and the pain scores. Bonferroni tests will be conducted to explore which of the three groups has the better outcomes.

Timeline

Start

2017-07-10

Primary completion

2021-12-01

Completion

2024-06-01

Publications

• Background Al Jaouni SK, Al Muhayawi MS, Hussein A, Elfiki I, Al-Raddadi R, Al Muhayawi SM, Almasaudi S, Kamal MA, Harakeh S. Effects of Honey on Oral Mucositis among Pediatric Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemo/Radiotherapy Treatment at King Abdulaziz University Hospital in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2017;2017:5861024. doi: 10.1155/2017/5861024. Epub 2017 Feb 7.
• Background Kobya Bulut H, Guducu Tufekci F. Honey prevents oral mocositis in children undergoing chemotherapy: A quasi-experimental study with a control group. Complement Ther Med. 2016 Dec;29:132-140. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2016.09.018. Epub 2016 Sep 19.
• Background Xu JL, Xia R, Sun ZH, Sun L, Min X, Liu C, Zhang H, Zhu YM. Effects of honey use on the management of radio/chemotherapy-induced mucositis: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2016 Dec;45(12):1618-1625. doi: 10.1016/j.ijom.2016.04.023. Epub 2016 Sep 3.
• Background Jayalekshmi JL, Lakshmi R, Mukerji A. Honey on oral mucositis: A Randomized controlled trial. Gulf J Oncolog. 2016 Jan;1(20):30-7.
• Background Cho HK, Jeong YM, Lee HS, Lee YJ, Hwang SH. Effects of honey on oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer: A meta-analysis. Laryngoscope. 2015 Sep;125(9):2085-92. doi: 10.1002/lary.25233. Epub 2015 Mar 16.
• Background Hawley P, Hovan A, McGahan CE, Saunders D. A randomized placebo-controlled trial of manuka honey for radiation-induced oral mucositis. Support Care Cancer. 2014 Mar;22(3):751-61. doi: 10.1007/s00520-013-2031-0. Epub 2013 Nov 13.
• Background Abdulrhman M, Elbarbary NS, Ahmed Amin D, Saeid Ebrahim R. Honey and a mixture of honey, beeswax, and olive oil-propolis extract in treatment of chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis: a randomized controlled pilot study. Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2012 Apr;29(3):285-92. doi: 10.3109/08880018.2012.669026.
• Background Song JJ, Twumasi-Ankrah P, Salcido R. Systematic review and meta-analysis on the use of honey to protect from the effects of radiation-induced oral mucositis. Adv Skin Wound Care. 2012 Jan;25(1):23-8. doi: 10.1097/01.ASW.0000410687.14363.a3.

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