STUDY PURPOSE: To explore the efficacy and safety of electroencephalograph (EEG) biofeedback, or neurofeedback, on fatigue and cognitive impairment
TYPE OF STUDY: Systematic review
DATABASES USED: OVID MEDLINE (1946 to third week of November, 2013); EMBASE (1947 to the 44th week of 2013); PsycINFO (1967 to the first week of December, 2013); AMED (1985 to December 2013); CIHAHL (1978 to the first week of December, 2013); hand searches also were conducted of the major journals reporting on neurofeedback and reference lists of included studies
KEYWORDS: Neurofeedback, brain biofeedback, EEG biofeedback, fatigue, cognitive disorders, and cognition
INCLUSION CRITERIA: (1) Reported on adult cancer survivors, individuals with other chronic health conditions, or nonclinical populations seeking to decrease fatigue or enhance cognitive abilities; (2) reported results of randomized, controlled trials, nonrandomized, controlled trials, controlled before-and-after studies, cohort, case control, or descriptive studies that assessed effectiveness or safety of EEG biofeedback or neurofeedback therapy; and (3) written in English
EXCLUSION CRITERIA: Studies on children, editorials, reviews, expert opinion papers, and studies published as abstracts only
TOTAL REFERENCES RETRIEVED: 197
EVALUATION METHOD AND COMMENTS ON LITERATURE USED: This systematic review was conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology, including JBI critical appraisal and data extraction tools. Only two studies were deemed to be of high quality.
Improvements were noted in fatigue in eight of 17 studies, and improvement was noted in cognition in 14 of the 17 studies reviewed. Neurofeedback interventions were well tolerated with only three studies reporting any side effects.