Alternative medicine goes mainstream in US
NEW YORK, Aug 21 (Reuters Health) - Alternative medicine, once
relegated to the fringes of Western science, is becoming an increasingly
popular part of mainstream medicine in the US, a team of Harvard researchers
concludes.
Their study investigated the use of acupuncture, herbal medicines, yoga,
massage and other complementary and alternative therapies over 50 years. The
findings, published in the August 21st issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine,
suggest that many Americans, regardless of gender, geography, education or
ethnicity, are relying on at least one of the 20 different therapies studied.
"These...results should dispel any suggestion that use has increased
for only singular complementary or alternative modalities or that the use of
complementary and alternative medicine therapies is a passing fad associated
with one particular generation or fringe segment of the population,"
according to Dr. Ronald C. Kessler and associates from Harvard Medical School
in Boston, Massachusetts.
In the study, nearly 68% of adults reported having used at least one therapy
sometime in their lives. Younger people were more likely to try alternative
therapies. By age 33, for example, 70% of those born between 1965 and 1979 had
used some type of alternative medicine, compared with 50% of those born between
1945 and 1964, and 30% of individuals born before 1945.
But across all age groups, the use of complementary and alternative
therapies has increased since the 1950s, with the largest overall rise seen
between the 1960s and 1970s. And among those who had tried a therapy, nearly
50% continued to use it up to 20 years later.
In other findings, certain therapies were more in vogue during different
decades. In the 1990s, aromatherapy, herbal medicine, massage and yoga were
popular forms of complementary and alternative medicine, while the 1970s saw
interest in biofeedback, energy healing and imagery.
According to the researchers, consumer demand for complementary and
alternative therapies has prompted some insurance companies to cover certain
interventions, while most US medical schools now offer courses on these
therapies. Meantime, the National Institutes of Health has established an
office of complementary and alternative medicine to conduct clinical trials on
these therapies.
"These responses imply that complementary and alternative therapies are
perceived to be a force to be reckoned with for some time to come," the
study authors write.
Therefore, doctors should take the time to ask their patients if they are
using any alternative therapies and to educate themselves, Kessler told Reuters
Health.
"You can't make recommendations because the therapies are, by
definition, unproven. But you can tell patients to avoid complementary and
alternative therapies that are suspected to represent risks," he said.
Potential risks include harmful interactions between herbs and drugs. For
the most part, however, patients may waste their time and money on treatments
with no positive effects, he added.
The findings are based on more than 2,000 telephone interviews conducted in
1997 and 1998.
SOURCE: Annals of Internal Medicine 2001;135:262-268.
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