Université Clermont Auvergne, INSERM, U1240 Imagerie Moléculaire et Stratégies Théranostiques, Centre Jean PERRIN, 63011, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
Division de Recherche Clinique, Délégation Recherche Clinique et Innovation, Centre de Lutte contre le Cancer, Centre Jean PERRIN, 58, rue Montalembert, 63011, Clermont-Ferrand Cedex 1, France.
Aging Clin Exp Res. 2020 Dec;32(12):2459-2468. doi: 10.1007/s40520-020-01532-0. Epub 2020 Mar 31.
The proportion of older populations living with cancer is on the increase. Maintaining or improving their quality of life (QoL) has become an important goal in the treatment of cancer and has become an endpoint in clinical trials. Melatonin regulates a wide variety of physiological functions and is involved in the initiation of sleep and the improvement of QoL. With age, the secretion of melatonin decreases and could lead to a deterioration in QoL.
Literature searches were conducted using the PubMed database. The search terms and derivatives of "metastatic cancer", "older patients", "quality of life" and "melatonin" were used. Titles and abstracts were screened to identify whether studies were relevant for full-text screening.
There is major concern about the symptoms older cancer patients encounter during treatment because they can impact their QoL. Melatonin supplementation presents several benefits for older patients: improvement in survival, decrease in symptoms induced by cancer and cancer treatment, and also improvements in quality of life.
It therefore seems appropriate to study the impact of melatonin supplementation during cytotoxic therapy on QoL among elderly patients with metastatic cancer. The use of melatonin as a therapeutic strategy seems particularly suitable for elderly patients, a population known to secrete significantly less melatonin. However, to date, no studies have been conducted in this population.
患有癌症的老年人口比例呈上升趋势。维持或提高他们的生活质量（QoL）已成为癌症治疗的重要目标，并成为临床试验的终点。褪黑素调节多种生理功能，参与睡眠的启动和 QoL 的改善。随着年龄的增长，褪黑素的分泌减少，可能导致 QoL 恶化。
使用 PubMed 数据库进行文献检索。使用了“转移性癌症”、“老年患者”、“生活质量”和“褪黑素”的检索词和衍生物。筛选标题和摘要以确定研究是否与全文筛选相关。
人们非常关注老年癌症患者在治疗过程中遇到的症状，因为这些症状会影响他们的 QoL。褪黑素补充剂对老年患者有以下益处：提高生存率、减轻癌症和癌症治疗引起的症状，以及改善生活质量。
因此，研究在细胞毒性治疗期间补充褪黑素对转移性癌症老年患者 QoL 的影响似乎是合适的。褪黑素作为一种治疗策略似乎特别适合老年患者，众所周知，这一人群分泌的褪黑素明显较少。然而，迄今为止，尚未在这一人群中进行研究。
