Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Throwing the baby out with the snake oil.
A few weeks ago, I vented my frustration about reports that budget-conscious patients where prioritizing supplements and vitamins over standard medical care. Apparently the news got the Associated Press even more fired up.
A new AP IMPACT report goes after alternative medicine like it's a potential terrorist network. And mainstream medicine is on the conspiracy! "Some medical schools are teaching future doctors about alternative medicine, sometimes with federal grants," the article warns. The author notes that most CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) education is designed to teach doctors about the products their patients may be using. "But some schools have ties to alternative medicine practitioners and advocates." Well, yes, in order to learn about alternative medicine you might actually have to have contact with those who provide it.
Absolutely, alternative medication is controversial and some treatments are total scams. But is demonizing the whole field--and anyone who tries to study it--going to help sort out what's helpful and what's harmful? When one of the top problems with CAM is that patients don't tell their doctors what alternative therapies they're using, maybe we should be calling for more research and more cooperation, not less.
Labels: alternative medicine
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
11:02 AM
2 Comments
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Proven or placebo--take your pick!
A article by HealthDay reported this week that those acupressure wristbands that people use to stave off seasickness can also reduce nausea from cancer treatment. The article specifically noted that the improvement could not be attributed to the placebo effect, because patients who weren't sold on the benefits of the bands also reported less nausea.
Intrigued, I decided to engage in some heavy-duty journalistic investigation (Googling the press release mentioned in the article). I thought I found it here, but was surprised to find the study author saying, "But we think that the effect of the pressure bands was primarily a placebo effect. It appeared that the bands themselves did little or nothing, just as a placebo pill does nothing by itself." Wasn't that the opposite of the study findings?
Sure enough, it was. Because that press release was from a study released in 2003, by the same researchers, at the same university, published in the same journal, on effectively the same subject (one study covered nausea after chemo, while the other did radiation), with opposite results. The new press release for the 2009 study at least links back to the first study, but it still leaves one at a loss for the real implications of the research. Is the acupressure working, or the placebo?
Maybe it doesn't matter. As a recent ACP Internist article revealed, a lot of docs figure that if a treatment's cheap, not likely to cause harm, and the patient thinks it will work (all likely to be true of an acupressure wristband), why not give it a try?
Labels: alternative medicine, placebos
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
3:57 PM
0 Comments
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Alternative medicine use holds steady at more than 1 in 3 Americans
Approximately 38% of adults use some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), a level that has held steady for the past five years, according to the National Institutes of Health Survey (NHIS).
Overall CAM use has remained relatively steady, from 36% in 2002 to 38% in 2007. However, use of specific therapies has varied.
The most commonly used by adults were:
--nonvitamin, nonmineral, natural products (17.7%), most commonly fish oil/omega 3/DHA, glucosamine, echinacea, flaxseed and ginseng,
--deep breathing (12.7%),
--meditation (9.4%),
--chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation (8.6%),
--massage (8.3%), and
--yoga (6.1%).
Adults used CAM most often to treat pain (back, neck or joint), arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions. Use for head or chest colds decreased from 9.5% in 2002 to 2.0% in 2007.
Americans' use of CAM for health care reinforces the need for rigorous research to study the safety and effectiveness of these therapies, said National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Director Josephine P. Briggs, MD. The data also point out the need for patients and health care providers to openly discuss CAM use to ensure safe and coordinated care.
As reported by ACP Internist in November 2007, "The challenge for internists is to keep up with the latest evidence so they are not caught off guard when patients announce they have been taking St. John's wort for depression, for example, or treating their low back pain with acupuncture." The issue also outlined easy ways for internists to open the lines of communication.
Click on More below for complete results and charts.
Survey results are based on data from more than 23,300 interviews with American adults and more than 9,400 interviews with adults on behalf a child in their household.
Consistent with results from the 2002 data, in 2007 CAM use among adults was greater among:
--women (42.8%, compared to men 33.5%)
--those aged 30-69 (30-39 years: 39.6%, 40-49 years: 40.1%, 50-59 years: 44.1%, 60-69 years: 41.0%)
--those with higher levels of education (masters, doctorate or professional: 55.4%)
--those who were not poor (poor: 28.9%, near poor: 30.9%, not poor: 43.3%)
--those living in the West (44.6%)
--those who have quit smoking (48.1%)
NCCAM also tracked children for the first time. Overall, CAM use among children is nearly 12%, or about 1 in 9 children. Children are five times more likely to use CAM if a parent or other relative uses CAM. CAM therapies were used most often for back or neck pain, head or chest colds, anxiety or stress, other musculoskeletal problems, and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD).
Labels: alternative medicine
posted by Ryan DuBosar at
1:54 PM
0 Comments
Friday, June 6, 2008
Talk to your patients about alternative medicine
The NIH has launched an educational campaign to encourage providers and patients to talk with one another about the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The campaign, called Time to Talk, offers the following tips for providers:
-- Include a question about CAM use on medical history forms.
-- Ask patients to bring a list of all therapies they use, including prescriptions, over-the-counter, herbal therapies, and other CAM practices.
-- Have medical staff initiate the conversation about CAM.
Nearly 2/3 of people age 50+ use some form of CAM, yet fewer than 1/3 of them discuss it with their providers, an NIH survey found. The most common reasons were that the doctor didn't ask, that patients didn't know they should discuss CAM, or that there wasn't enough time during the office visit.
Tools and resources about CAM, including wallet cards, posters and tip sheets, are on the NIH Web site.
An article with advice on talking to your patients about CAM ran in the November ACP Observer.
Labels: alternative medicine
posted by Jessica Berthold at
3:48 PM
0 Comments
ACP Internist hosted Grand Rounds on June 16, wrapping up the best of the medical blogosphere. Click here for the complete wrap-up.
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