What percentage of cancer patients use CAM?
Prevalence – On average, 51% of cancer patients were using CAM, ranging from 16.5% to 93.4%. The authors attempted to break this down by cancer type, but statistical analysis showed no difference between groups, so I won’t show that data here.
Is Cam a threat to cancer care?
Widespread but undisclosed use of CAM has the potential to compromise cancer care. While few patients forsake science-based cancer care in favour of CAM, concurrent use is more common. Some CAM products can affect bleeding risk or may even compromise the effectiveness of chemotherapy.
How common are CAM therapies in Canada?
Repeated studies * have found that more than three quarters of Canadians use CAM therapies to treat a myriad of health conditions. The 10 most frequently reported medical conditions for which CAM therapies were used are:
What is the difference between standard cancer treatments and CAM therapies?
Standard cancer treatments have generally been studied for safety and effectiveness through an intense scientific process that includes clinical trials with large numbers of patients. CAM therapies include a wide variety of botanicals and nutritional products, such as dietary supplements, herbal supplements, and vitamins.
How many cancer patients use CAM?
In the United States, cam use was reported by approximately 85% of patients with cancer, with diet or vitamins, mind–body practices, and biologic products being the most common23,24.
How many people use CAM therapies?
found that 75 percent of adults had ever used CAM and that 62 percent of adults had used some form of CAM therapy within the past 12 months. Excluding prayer from the definition decreased the rate of CAM use to 36 percent.
Are there any risks to using CAM treatments?
Adverse reactions to CAM practices can be classified as risks of commission (which includes removal of medical therapy) and risks of omission (which includes failure to refer when appropriate).
Who uses CAM therapy the most?
The majority of studies thus report that women are more likely than men to use CAM, and this has been found in national surveys in both the UK (1) and US (101). For example in one US study 39% of women and 31% of men had used CAM in the past year.
What percentage of people use CAM with prayer?
In our cohort, 96% of patients listed prayer as a CAM method, which is higher than previously reported (57%). In the United States, CAM use is reported to be higher among women and those with higher levels of education and higher incomes. Naing et al3 found that CAM was used more common by women (P < . 01).
What is the most common reason for CAM use in the US?
It appears that CAM is most often used to treat and/or prevent musculoskeletal conditions or other conditions involving chronic or recurring pain. Prayer specifically for health reasons was the most commonly used CAM therapy.
What are the disadvantages of alternative medicine?
Disadvantages of Alternative Medicine for Back PainMinimal scientific research. When it comes to scientific proof, evidence is still limited. ... Longer term treatment. Traditional medical procedures can be quick and easy. ... Not useful in emergency cases. ... No Regulation.
What are the risks of complementary and alternative medicine?
Some complementary and alternative therapies have been reported to cause serious problems or even deaths. Certain vitamins and minerals can increase the risk of cancer or other illnesses, especially if too much is taken.
What is the biggest problem with complementary and alternative medicine?
Systematic reviews have found that many clinical trials testing complementary or alternative medicine have major flaws, such as insufficient statistical power, poor controls, inconsistency of treatment or product, and lack of comparisons with other treatments, with placebo, or with both.
Why is Cam not accepted by the medical profession?
A lack of evidence-based information about efficacy, safety, and drug interactions with CAM therapies, as well as a lack of formal training, is thought to be responsible for this deficit.
Who in the United States is most likely to use CAM?
Only 11.8% of respondents sought care from a licensed or certified CAM practitioner. Rates of CAM use are extremely high among respondents with life-threatening illnesses, such as cancer or HIV infection. Women are more likely than men to use CAM, and older adults are more likely to use it than younger adults.
Which of the following groups are more likely to use CAM?
Complementary and Integrative Medicine and Children: Some groups of children are more likely to use CAM than others. Parents who use CAM are more likely to treat their children with it. Children with chronic disabling or recurrent conditions are among those who have higher CAM use.
Why is understanding CAM use in cancer important?
Widespread but undisclosed use of CAM has the potential to compromise cancer care. While few patients forsake science-based cancer care in favour of CAM, concurrent use is more common. Some CAM products can affect bleeding risk or may even compromise the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Notably, non-disclosure of CAM use to health professionals is common, with numbers in the literature suggesting 20%-77% of cancer patients never disclose CAM use.
How many studies have a definition of CAM?
Importantly, 53 of the 61 studies had a definition of CAM that included mind/body therapies. Only 5 studies looked solely at “biological therapies” such as herbal remedies or dietary supplements. Overall, the diversity of and generous definition of CAM serve to over-estimate the population of CAM users (if you feel, like I do, that broad definitions co-opt what arguably isn’t alternative medicine).
What are the most common predictors of CAM use?
Demographics – 56 of the 61 studies looked at the demographics of users. The most common predictors of CAM use were: female (even after controlling for the multiple studies in breast cancer) higher education. younger.
What is the goal of CAM?
Health professionals need to take a non-judgmental approach to understanding CAM use, while providing advice based on the best scientific information, with the goal of to supporting patient autonomy and safe, optimal cancer care.
Why do people use CAM?
Reasons for CAM use – The desire to treat or cure cancer was the most commonly cited reason for use, noted in 74% of studies. Other reasons given included intent to treat complications (e.g., side effects) (61%), influence general health (e.g., increase immunity) (57%), holistic treatment (57%), “Taking Control” or “Not wanting to miss a chance” (46%), and belief in CAM or dissatisfaction with conventional treatment (34%).
How many studies have been done on breast cancer?
The authors identified 61 relevant studies that included over 20,000 cancer patients in total. Breast cancer patients were the most common patient group studied, followed by hematologic (blood) cancers. Interestingly, this topic is under-researched in North America. The most common country among the 61 studies was Germany (9), followed by Turkey (6), Australia (5), and Malaysia (5). There were 4 from Italy and the USA, with several other countries represented by 3 or fewer studies. In most of the studies, self-completed questionnaires were the source of data.
Is CAM a continuum?
This image reflects my own thinking about CAM and cancer – a continuum ranging from science-backed interventions, used alongside cancer treatments, that may help quality-of-life and symptoms (e.g., supportive care), to implausible, unproven or disproven treatments, some of which may be claimed to actually treat the underlying cancer:
What is the harm of CAM?
Risks of CAM Treatments for Cancer. “What’s the harm?” is an insidious idea when used as a justification for unscientific medical treatments. The argument is typically put forward with the assumption that direct physical harm is the only type of harm that can result from such treatments, so as long as they aren’t toxic there is no downside ...
What is the harm of medical treatment?
“What’s the harm?” is an insidious idea when used as a justification for unscientific medical treatments . The argument is typically put forward with the assumption that direct physical harm is the only type of harm that can result from such treatments, so as long as they aren’t toxic there is no downside to trying them. Harm comes in many forms, however: delayed effective treatment, wasted time and energy, financial harm, the psychological harm of false hope, and the downstream effects of instilling unscientific beliefs regarding health care.
What is CAM in medical terms?
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is any medical and health care systems, practices, or products that are not thought of as standard medical care. Standard treatments are based on scientific evidence from research studies. Complementary medicine refers to treatments that are used with standard medical treatments, ...
Is it safe to use CAM?
Although claims made by CAM treatment providers about the benefits of the treatments can sound promising, we do not know how safe many CAM treatments are or how well they work. If you are using or considering using a complementary or alternative therapy, you should talk with your doctor or nurse. Some CAM therapies may interfere with standard treatment or even be harmful. See our overview on CAM for more information.
How many people use CAM?
In the United States, 36% of adults are using some form of CAM. When megavitamin therapy and prayer specifically for health reasons are included in the definition of CAM, that number rises to 62%. (See figure 1.)
What are some CAM therapies?
These included provider-based therapies, such as acupuncture and chiropractic, and other therapies that do not require a provider, such as natural products, special diets, and megavitamin therapy. (See a complete list of therapies that were included.)
What is NCCAM collaboration?
NCCAM plans to collaborate with the NCHS to analyze the survey findings further. Among the areas of interest to the researchers are how CAM use relates to various health-related behaviors, race, and gender, and whether there are differences between people who use only CAM or only conventional medicine, and those who use both. Future reports will be published.
What is considered CAM?
The list of what is considered to be CAM changes continually, as those therapies that are proven to be safe and effective become adopted into conventional health care and as new approaches to health care emerge. a Other terms for conventional medicine include allopathy; Western, mainstream, orthodox, and regular medicine; and biomedicine.
What is CAM in medical terms?
CAM is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine--that is, medicine as practiced by holders of M.D. (medical doctor) or D.O. (doctor of osteopathy) degrees and their allied health professionals, such as physical therapists, psychologists, and registered nurses. a
What is the most commonly used domain of CAM?
When prayer is included in the definition of CAM, the domain of mind-body medicine is the most commonly used domain (53%). (See figure 3.) When prayer is not included, biologically based therapies (22%) are more popular than mind-body medicine (17%).
What is NCCAM?
NCCAM, a component of the National Institutes of Health, is dedicated to explo ring complementary and alternative healing practices in the context of rigorous science, training CAM researchers, and disseminating authoritative information to the public and professionals. To Obtain the Report.
What is CAM in healthcare?
The widespread use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is of major importance to today's health care consumers, practitioners, researchers, and policy makers. For example, look at the following statistics on CAM: 42 percent of people in the United States report that they have used at least one CAM therapy: however, ...
When was the first CAM trial?
The first large, multicenter trial of a CAM therapy was cofunded in 1997 by OAM, the National Institute on Mental Health, and the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. The trial tested the effect of Hypericum (St. John's wort) for depression. By 1998 the use of CAM was widely discussed and hotly debated.
Why are stipulative definitions not successful in distinguishing CAM from conventional therapies?
Stipulative definitions (i.e., lists of therapies) are not successful in distinguishing CAM from conventional therapies, Kopelman argues, because they are not consistent from source to source and they provide no justification for the exclusion of therapies that are not included.
What is NCCAM website?
It maintains several outlets for both the public and the research community. The NCCAM website ( http://nccam.nih.gov/) provides detailed descriptions of its ongoing activities as well as fact sheets about CAM, information on factors related to decision making about treatments, cost and payment questions, and safety alerts and advisories. NCCAM also publishes a quarterly newsletter containing updates on new and ongoing activities of the center. NCCAM also uses lectures, town meetings, and exhibits at scientific meetings as opportunities to increase people's awareness of CAM and the center.
How much did the OAM budget increase?
Meanwhile, Congress, having increased the OAM budget from the original $2 million to $19.5 million, elevated OAM to the level of a national center named NCCAM in 1998, awarded it $48.9 million for fiscal year (FY) 1999, and required that NCCAM appoint CAM practitioners as members of its Advisory Council.
How many people took prescription medications in 1997?
In 1997, an estimated 15 million adults took prescription medications concurrently with herbal remedies or high-dose vitamins, bringing into play the possibility of negative interactions. Total visits to CAM providers exceed total visits to all primary-care physicians.
What was the purpose of the Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine?
The purpose of the commission was to “study and report on public policy issues in the rapidly expanding field of complementary and alternative medicine.” Furthermore, the commission was asked to report on “legislative and administrative recommendations to assure that public policy maximizes the benefits to Americans of appropriate use of complementary and alternative medicine” ( Executive Order 13147, 2000 ). The commission's report provided recommendations about research on CAM, education and training in CAM, CAM information dissemination, delivery of CAM practices, coverage and reimbursement for CAM services, the potential role of CAM in wellness and health promotion, and the need for coordination of CAM-related efforts ( WHCCAMP, 2002 ).
What are some good CAM treatments for cancer?
Relaxation techniques. Prayer/spiritual practice. Acupuncture. Yoga. Herbal therapies. Special diet programs. Energy healing. Naturopathy. While cancer is not on this list as it is less prevalent than the ten listed conditions, it is well known that people with cancer are high users of CAM.
What is CAM used for?
Repeated studies * have found that more than three quarters of Canadians use CAM therapies to treat a myriad of health conditions. The 10 most frequently reported medical conditions for which CAM therapies were used are:
Types of Complementary and Alternative Medicine
The Safety of Cam
- Some CAM therapies have undergone careful evaluation and have been found to be generally safe and effective. These include acupuncture, yoga, and meditation to name a few. However, there are others that do not work, may be harmful, or could interact negatively with your medicines.
Clinical Trials to Test Cam Therapies
- NCI and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) are currently sponsoring or cosponsoring clinical trials that test CAM treatments and therapies in people. Some study the effects of complementary approaches used in addition to conventional treatments, and some compare alternative therapies with conventional treatments. You can find a list of all canc…
Cam in The Eye of The Beholder
Why Is Understanding Cam Use in Cancer Important?
The Results
What Does This Study Tell Us?
Conclusion: Little Evidence to Support Cam Benefiting Cancer Patients
- If CAM works, it does so according to scientific principles – not alternative ones. There is no evidence that most of CAM has much to offer cancer patients, even when used alongside conventional care. Importantly, no treatments, even some forms of CAM, are without any risk. However, cancer patients may be more willing to accept the risks of CAM giv...