A comparison of complementary therapy use between breast cancer patients and patients with other primary tumor sites
Section snippets
Methods
One thousand surveys questioning our patient population on use patterns of complementary therapies were mailed out to randomly selected patients with malignancies other than breast cancer (“other malignancies” group), and 935 identical surveys were mailed to randomly selected patients with breast cancer. The patients were identified in a community hospital’s cancer registry, and the surveys were received and handled in an anonymous manner. There was no attempt made to stratify the patients
Results
A total of 617 patients, 329 (33%) of the other malignancies group and 288 (31%) of the breast cancer group returned the questionnaire. Respondents ages ranged from 18 to over 75. The majority of the other malignancies group were in the 65- to 74-year-old age group, and the majority of the breast cancer patients fell in the 45- to 54-year-old group. The income ranges were from under $15,000 to over $75,000 and were evenly distributed.
The total number of respondents reporting some type of
Comments
Our cancer patients are using complementary therapies with specific goals in mind as opposed to using them merely to obtain refuge from the “uncaring world of allopathic medicine,” as many people in the lay press believe. They seek to improve their immune systems and to alleviate side effects of allopathic treatments. This strongly emphasizes the use of these therapies in conjunction with, not in lieu of, allopathic treatments.
There was remarkable similarity between the two groups studied. The
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