Effects of non-pharmacological interventions on chemotherapy-induced taste alterations among cancer patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Authors

Wencan Cheng, Jia Fang, Duo Zhang, Yiheng Zhang, Ni Zhang, Ye Zhang, Jingwen Yan, Meifen Zhang

Published in

International journal of nursing studies. Volume 184. Pages 105677. Aug 14, 2026. Epub Aug 14, 2026.

Abstract

Chemotherapy-induced taste alterations are prevalent and clinically significant symptoms among cancer patients. Although several non-pharmacological interventions have shown potential for alleviating these symptoms, the available evidence has not been comprehensively synthesized.
To evaluate the effects of non-pharmacological interventions for chemotherapy-induced taste alterations among cancer patients.
A systematic review and meta-analysis.
A systematic search was conducted in five English and three Chinese electronic databases. Randomized controlled trials (RCT) that examine the effects of non-pharmacological interventions on chemotherapy-induced taste alterations among cancer patients were included. Version 2 of the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials was used to assess the risk of bias in included studies. Pairwise meta-analyses were performed to estimate standardized mean differences (SMD) or risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).
The systematic review included 13 RCTs involving 1049 participants, and 12 of these trials were included in the meta-analysis. Five types of intervention were identified, including oral cryotherapy, photobiomodulation therapy, traditional Chinese medicine-based intervention, dietary and nutritional intervention, and psycho-educational intervention. Non-pharmacological interventions significantly reduced the incidence of taste disorders (RR: 0.72; 95% CI: 0.61 to 0.86), improved perceived taste alterations (SMD: -1.21; 95% CI: -1.78 to -0.63), and enhanced objective taste function, though significant only for salty taste (SMD: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.56 to 1.12). Subgroup analysis showed that dietary and nutritional interventions conferred significant reduction in taste disorder incidence (RR: 0.54; 95% CI: 0.32 to 0.91), oral cryotherapy (SMD: -1.62; 95% CI: -3.16 to -0.07) produced a greater effect on perceived taste alterations than traditional Chinese medicine-based interventions (SMD: -0.73; 95% CI: -1.13 to -0.33), and photobiomodulation therapy significantly improved salty (SMD: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.60 to 1.20), sour (SMD: 0.69; 95% CI: 0.09 to 1.29), and sweet (SMD: 0.66; 95% CI: 0.14 to 1.18) taste function.
Non-pharmacological interventions show promise for the management of chemotherapy-induced taste alterations in patients with cancer. Further high-quality randomized controlled trials with standardized outcome assessments and diverse populations are needed to strengthen the evidence base and inform future clinical management strategies.
PROSPERO (ID: CRD420261348257).

PMID:
42731479
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 13 Sep 2026.

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