An investigation of efficient nursing interventions in early diagnosis of cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Due to the contradictory results of previous research and the lack of a specific study to address the effective nursing interventions in the early diagnosis of cancer, the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of nursing interventions on early diagnosis of cancer. METHODS: This systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted during the last 5 years from 2015 to September 30, 2020. The articles related to the nursing interventions to early diagnosis of cancer were achieved from PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, ISI, Scopus databases, and Google and Google Scholar search engines. Risk-ratio with a 95% confidence interval (CI) between the intervention and control groups was determined using the fixed-effect model, and the Mantel–Haenszel method and I2 showed the heterogeneity of studies. Stata V16 software was used for meta-analysis. RESULTS: The effect of an intervention on early diagnosis of breast cancer was evaluated using mammography, clinical breast examination, and breast self-exam. A total of 300 individuals participated in the study. RR results in the intervention group showed the effectiveness of nursing interventions on breast cancer detected early in both the mammography and colonoscopy (RR, 1.18 95% CI 0.57, 1.79. P =0.00 and RR, 0.58, 95% CI 0.42, 0.75, P = 0.00, respectively). CONCLUSION: A variety of nursing interventions including education, consultation, patient guidance, and reminders can have a positive impact on the early detection of cancers.