(Valerian) for Improving Sleep in Patients With Cancer Receiving Adjuvant Therapy

OBJECTIVES:

Primary

• Determine the effect of Valeriana officinalis (Valerian) for improving the quality of sleep in patients with cancer receiving adjuvant therapy.

Secondary

• Determine the safety of this therapy, in terms of frequency and severity of adverse events, in these patients.

• Determine the effect of this therapy on the degree of anxiety, fatigue, and activities of daily living in these patients.

OUTLINE: This is a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to type of adjuvant treatment (radiotherapy vs parenteral chemotherapy vs oral therapy vs combined modality), age (40 and under vs 41 to 55 vs 56 to 70 vs over 70), and numerical analogue scale for sleep difficulty (mildly impaired sleep quality [4-7] vs moderate or severely impaired sleep quality [8-10]). Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.

• Arm I: Patients receive oral Valeriana officinalis (Valerian) once daily for 8 weeks.

• Arm II: Patients receive an oral placebo once daily for 8 weeks. After 8 weeks of treatment, patients in arm I may receive Valeriana officinalis (Valerian) for an additional 8 weeks and patients in arm II may cross over to arm I.

Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, functional outcomes of sleep, brief fatigue inventory, and profile of mood states questionnaires are completed at baseline and then at weeks 4, 8, 12, and 16.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed weekly for 2 weeks.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 220 patients (110 per treatment arm) will be accrued for this study within approximately 11-22 months.