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Alternative
Medicine Goes Mainstream
Excerpt
By Suzanne Rostler, Reuters Health
NEW YORK (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.
Reference
Source 89
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