Project Title

Research Focus

Funder & Dates

Principal Investigator or Primary Supervisor (if PhD project)

Professor Joanne Reid

Co-Investigators or additional supervisors

Dr Carolyn Blair, Dr Clare McKeaveney, Professor Martin Dempster, Dr Adrian Slee, Professor Donna Fitzsimons

Research Fellow(s) or PhD Student

Dr Carolyn Blair (RF)

Name & Institution of Collaborators

Professor Joanne Reid¹, Dr Carolyn Blair¹, Dr Clare McKeaveney¹, Professor Martin Dempster², Dr Adrian Slee³, Professor Donna Fitzsimons¹

¹ School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.

² School of Psychology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.

³Division of Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University College London, UK.

Name of External Partner Organisations

The Cochrane Pain, Palliative and Supportive Care Review Group (PaPaS)

HSC R&D Division, Public Health Agency

Northern Ireland Kidney Research Fund (NIKRF)

Description of Project:

Aim; Methods; Expected Outcomes

Background:

Previous reviews have summarized the applicability of multimodal interventions (Aapro, Arends et al. 2014, Del Fabbro 2019) and in the first critical review of multimodal interventions for cachexia (McKeaveney, Maxwell et al. 2021), there is a clear consensus that unimodal therapies will not stabilize or reverse cachexia (Di Girolamo, Guadagni et al. 2019). However, despite growing and intensive research in the field, relatively little is known about the most effective multimodal treatment options to counteract and manage cachexia therefore no standardized treatment exists (Crawford 2019).  Relatedly, practice guidelines on cachexia management are absent and urgently needed to inform treatment pathways for clinicians treating patients with cachexia and more generally on chronic diseases. Health care practitioners need guidance on how individuals with cachexia can improve functioning, maintain and gain weight to enhance their opportunity for survival and an improved quality of life (von Haehling, Anker et al. 2016). It is evident that for patients with or at risk of cachexia, a comprehensive multimodal strategy is required (Fearon, Argiles et al. 2015) therefore this Cochrane review is required to needed to assess the safety and efficacy of such interventions. Our aim is that the findings will influence treatment guidelines and future RCTs building evidence for more effective treatments and thereby improve patient outcomes.

Objectives:

To assess the following:

• The effects of multimodal interventions which aim to alleviate and/or stabilize cachexia (disease-related wasting) in people with a chronic illness.
• The adverse effects of multimodal therapy when given to people with cachexia.

Methods:

We will identify, appraise and synthesize all the empirical evidence that meets our pre-specified eligibility criteria to fulfil the aforementioned objectives. Our review will be conducted in accordance with Cochrane guidance and in collaboration with the Cochrane Pain, Palliative and Supportive Care Review Group (PaPaS).