A comparison of complementary therapy use between breast cancer patients and patients with other primary tumor sites

Presented at the 86th Annual Meeting of the North Pacific Surgical Association, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, November 12–13, 1999.
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Abstract

Background: Interest in complementary therapies in the United States is rising. We sought to characterize the use of complementary therapies among our cancer patients in our community and analyze differences in use between patients with breast versus those with other primary tumor sites.

Methods: A survey of 1,935 randomly selected patients from the tumor registry was performed. A questionnaire was mailed to 935 breast cancer patients and 1,000 patients with other primary site diagnoses.

Results: There were 617 responses (288 breast, 329 other). Seventy-five patients (75%) reported use of a complementary modality. Top therapies used were nutrition (63%), massage (53%), and healing herbs (44%). The most common reason for use, immune modulation (73%), was similar in both groups. Therapy was used consistently by 84% of breast patients versus 66% of others (P = 0.003).

Conclusion: A significant number of cancer patients are using complementary therapies. Breast cancer patients are far more likely to be consistent users compared with other 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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