A Cochrane review (abstract , review ) included 28 studies involving a total of 6 871 subjects. There was a statistically significant difference in favour of taxane-containing regimens for overall survival, time to progression, and overall response rate . The considerable heterogeneity found probably reflects the varying efficacy of the comparator regimens used in the trials. Taxanes were associated with an increased risk of neurotoxicity (RR 4.84, 95% CI 3.18 to 7.35, P < 0.00001, 24 studies) and hair loss (RR 2.37, 95% CI 1.45 to 3.87, P = 0.0006, 11 studies) but less nausea/vomiting compared to non-taxane-containing regimens (RR 0.62, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.83, P = 0.001, 26 studies). For quality of life measures, none of the individual studies reported a difference in overall or any of quality of life subscales between taxane-containing and non-taxane chemotherapy regimens.
| Outcome | Relative effect (95% CI) | Participants (studies) |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Survival | 0.93 (0.88 to 0.99) | 6 008 (23) |
| Time to Progression | 0.92 (0.87 to 0.97) | 5 960 (22) |
| Time to Treatment Failure | 0.90 (0.82 to 0.98) | 1 724 (5) |
| Overall Response Rate | 1.20 (1.14 to 1.27) | 6 999 (29) |
| Toxicity | 1.00 (0.63 to 1.57) | 5 517 (22) |
Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by inconsistency (variability in results across studies and heterogeneity in studied interventions).