Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is no longer new terminology in the healthcare system but, evidence-based CAM is still an unfamiliar term. Evidence-based medicine, a practice of medicine based on the recommendation derived from a systematic, scientific study of published data, is accepted as the standard in the healthcare. ACP Evidence-Based Guide to Complementary and Alternative M...

BACKGROUND The use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) has been extensively studied globally among adult and paediatric populations. Parents, as a group, had not been studied to assess their knowledge and attitude to CAM and general medicine use. This study is necessary since parents' attitude to medicine use is known to influence their child's attitude to medicine use later in lif...

Results Of 423 respondents, 79.0% used CAM adjunctively during the hospitalization period. The most frequent type of CAM modality used was a package of herbal medicine and acupuncture (91.3%). Of the patients using CAM, 34.4% had musculoskeletal disorders and 16.1% had hypertension. Those aged 40-59 used CAM more than those aged 20-39 (OR = 4.58, 95% CI: 1.92-10.92). Males (OR = 0.33, 95% CI: 0...

Usage of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is steadily increasing over the last decades, gaining medical, economic and sociological importance. The aim of the present study was to assess the use of complementary and alternative therapies in cancer patients. A cross-sectional, descriptive survey design was used to collect data through an anonymous questionnaire. A total of 267 patient...

OBJECTIVE This report presents selected estimates of costs of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use among U.S. adults, the frequency of visits made to CAM providers, and the frequency of purchases of self-care CAM therapies. Data from the 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which is conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Sta...

BACKGROUND Despite the paucity of scientific evidence, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is widely used for the prevention and treatment of illness, holistic care, and counteracting the adverse effects of conventional medicine (CM). This study investigates the use of CAM by patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on haemodialysis. METHODS This quantitative study was conducted ...

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use by cancer patients, especially women, is increasing. However, CAM use among patients with lung cancer, who have been reported to have the highest symptom burden, is poorly documented. This study describes types and frequencies of specific CAM therapies used by women with lung cancer to manage symptoms, and examines differences in demographic and ...

CONTEXT Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has grown into a huge health care industry in the United States, with 91.5 million people (38% of adults) using CAM in 2007. Given the increase in CAM use and the need for CAM education for health professionals, it is important to understand the baseline attitudes and beliefs of osteopathic medical students regarding CAM, as well as the facto...

It is a common practice in contemporary medicine to follow stringently the scientific method in the process of validating efficacy and effectiveness of new or improved modes of treatment intervention. It follows that these complementary or alternative interventions must be validated by stringent research before they can be reliably integrated into Western medicine. The next decades will witness...

In October 2007, a National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)-sponsored workshop, entitled "Applying Principles from Complex Systems to Studying the Efficacy of CAM Therapies," was held at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Over a 2-day period, the workshop engaged a small group of experts from the fields of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) research and...