Effectiveness and Safety of Bright Light Therapy in Oncological Patients: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Light therapy, also known as bright light therapy, is a nonpharmacological approach to treat seasonal mood disorders and a wide range of other conditions by exposure to artificial light. Bright light therapy is considered a well-tolerated and easy to administer form of treatment with relatively low costs. Our systematic review is focused on the available literature data regarding the applications of this therapy to the field of oncology. Overall, in this context light therapy has showed promising results, providing a safe and potentially effective treatment for a variety of psychological symptoms (especially sleep disturbances and fatigue, but also mood and anxiety symptoms). Thereby, taking into account the enormous impact of all these symptoms on cancer patients' health-related quality of life, the validation and integration of bright white light therapy in the therapeutic armamentarium of these patients may be potentially highly beneficial in the daily clinical practice and could hopefully lead to a more comprehensive and integrated oncology care.

Keywords: Light-therapy; cancer; fatigue; sleep; systematic review.