Any difference? Use of a CAM provider among cancer patients, coronary heart disease (CHD) patients and individuals with no cancer/CHD

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Vinjar M Fønnebø¹  Arne J Norheim¹  Agnete E Kristoffersen¹ 

[1] Department of Community Medicine, National research center in complementary and alternative medicine (NAFKAM), Tromsø, Norway;

关键词: Coronary Heart Disease;    Cancer Group;    Coronary Heart Disease Patient;    Coronary Heart Disease Group;    Conventional Health Care;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6882-12-1

 received in 2011-04-05, accepted in 2012-01-12,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAlthough use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among cancer patients has been described previously, prevalence of use has not commonly been compared to other disease groups in a true population sample where CAM use or cancer is not the main focus. The aims of the present study are to (1) examine how CAM use in cancer patients differs from people with a previous CHD diagnosis and people with no cancer or CHD diagnosis in an unselected general population and (2), investigate the use of a CAM provider among individuals with a previous cancer diagnosis.MethodsA total of 8040 men and women aged 29 to 87 in the city of Tromsø, Norway filled in a questionnaire developed specifically for the Tromsø V study with questions on life style and health issues. Visits to a CAM provider within the last 12 months and information on cancer, heart attack and angina pectoris (heart cramp) were among the questions. 1449 respondents were excluded from the analyses.ResultsAmong the 6591 analysed respondents 331 had a prior cancer diagnosis, of whom 7.9% reported to have seen a CAM provider within the last 12 months. This did not differ significantly from neither the CHD group (6.4%, p = 0.402) nor the no cancer/CHD group (9.5%, p = 0.325).ConclusionAccording to this study, the proportion of cancer patients seeing a CAM provider was not statistically significantly different from patients with CHD or individuals without cancer or CHD.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Kristoffersen et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012