“While you are on chemotherapy …”: common recommendations that lack evidence and may cause harm

2025/09/25 by Brooke E. Wilson, Christopher Jackson, Michelle Tregear +1 · 1 voice
Health Professions · Medicine · #Ethics in medical practice #Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues

paper · doi:10.1093/jnci/djaf239

openalex publication_date 2025/09/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Patients on chemotherapy often use multiple resources to obtain information on wide-ranging issues, including prognosis, treatments, diet, exercise, and safety precautions. Websites from national and international cancer organizations are a common source of information. In this commentary, we discuss the strength of evidence associated with some common recommendations and provide examples of the unintended consequences of some of this advice. We hope that this commentary will stimulate more careful consideration of the risks and benefits when drafting these patient-facing materials.

Discussions

• Myth busting: is there evidence behind common precautions people take while on chemotherapy? In this paper, CSO authors discuss evidence & examples of common precautionary recommendations patients r [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]

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