Ginseng Use & Breast Cancer Survival

March 20, 2006
An advance online publication in the American Journal of Epidemiology revealed that among a sample of women with breast cancer who regularly use the popular herb ginseng there was improved survival and quality of life. Ginseng contains compounds known as ginsenosides which have been found to have anti-tumor effects in cell and animal studies, suggesting that the herb could be helpful for cancer patients.

Xiao-Ou Shu, MD, PhD and colleagues at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville evaluated ginseng's effects on 1,455 breast cancer patients who enrolled in the Shanghai Breast Cancer Study between August 1996 and March 1998 in Shanghai, China, and who were followed through December of 2002. All of the patients had been treated with surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation. Information on ginseng use prior to diagnosis was obtained upon enrollment.

Three to four years following their diagnosis, the participants were asked by the researchers about their current ginseng use. While 27.4 percent of the patients had reported regular use of ginseng before their breast cancer diagnosis, 62.8 percent reported using the herb after being diagnosed. Ginseng use before diagnosis was correlated with improved survival, with those whose used the herb experiencing a 29% lower risk of mortality than those who did not use ginseng. Mortality from breast cancer and reccurence of the disease was similarly reduced. Ginseng use following diagnosis was found to have a positive association with reported physical, psychological, social and material well-being.

"There is a lot of skepticism about herbal medicine," Dr Shu stated. "That is why we are taking the observational approach at this time to see whether there is any efficacy. If so, we can go to the next phase... and eventually go to clinical trials."

http://www.lef.org/whatshot/index.html#bcli

Association of Ginseng Use with Survival and Quality of Life among Breast Cancer Patients

Yong Cui1,2, Xiao-Ou Shu1, Yu-Tang Gao3, Hui Cai1, Meng-Hua Tao1 and Wei Zheng1

1 Department of Medicine, Center for Health Services Research, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
2 Present affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN
3 Department of Epidemiology, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Shanghai, China

Correspondence to Dr. Xiao-Ou Shu, Department of Medicine, Center for Health Services Research, Medical Center East, Suite 6000, Vanderbilt University, 1215 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37232-8300 (e-mail: Xiao-Ou.Shu@Vanderbilt.edu).

The authors evaluated the associations of ginseng use as a complementary therapy with survival and quality of life (QOL) in a cohort of 1,455 breast cancer patients who were recruited to the Shanghai Breast Cancer Study between August 1996 and March 1998 in Shanghai, China. Patients were followed through December 2002. Information on ginseng use before cancer diagnosis was collected at baseline recruitment and was linked to survival. Survivors' ginseng use after cancer diagnosis was obtained at the follow-up survey and was correlated to QOL at the same time. The Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression models were applied to evaluate the association of ginseng use with overall and disease-free survival. The relation of ginseng use and QOL was evaluated by using multiple linear regression models. Approximately 27% of study participants were regular ginseng users before cancer diagnosis. Compared with patients who never used ginseng, regular users had a significantly reduced risk of death; adjusted hazard ratios associated with ginseng use were 0.71 (95% confidence interval: 0.52, 0.98) for total mortality and 0.70 (95% confidence interval: 0.53, 0.93) for disease-specific mortality/recurrence. Ginseng use after cancer diagnosis, particularly current use, was positively associated with QOL scores, with the strongest effect in the psychological and social well-being domains. Additionally, QOL improved as cumulative ginseng use increased.

American Journal of Epidemiology http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/163/7/645

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; QOL, quality of life