Eficácia de apiterapia no tratamento da mucosite oral em pacientes com câncer: uma revisão sistemática e meta-análise

Objective: To investigate whether apitherapy is effective in the treatment of oral mucositis in cancer patients. Methods: To search the following databases up to July 2024: PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, SciELO, and Lilacs. To use Cochrane’s Q and Higgins’ I² statistics to detect heterogeneity, to apply the Mantel-Haenszel test for data synthesis using RStudio, and to assess risk of bias using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tools. Results: To identify 857 articles after the initial search. To apply eligibility criteria and include 18 randomized clinical trials: 11 on honey and 7 on propolis, with low risk of bias in three studies. The meta-analysis did not show statistically significant differences for either agent in the treatment and/or prevention of oral mucositis (P > 0.05). To report high heterogeneity (I² > 65%) in the honey-treated groups for mild, moderate, and severe mucositis. Final considerations: To conclude that honey and propolis were not effective in the treatment or prevention of oral mucositis; however, these findings should be interpreted with caution due to the high heterogeneity of some studies.