Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use and Its Association with Emotional Status and Quality of Life in Patients with a Solid Tumor: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Objectives: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has been used widely in various populations for various purposes, including emotional support and improvement of quality of life (QOL). However, CAM use and purposes for using CAM are less clear among Korean patients with a solid tumor. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and type of CAM use, and the association between CAM use and anxiety, depression, and QOL in patients with a solid tumor.Design: A cross-sectional survey.Setting: A cancer center in Korea.Subjects: Two hundred and sixteen patients diagnosed with a solid tumor.Outcome measures: Standard questionnaires on CAM use, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30.Results: One hundred thirty one patients (60.6%) reported using CAM. CAM users, compared with non-CAM users, were significantly younger (57.8 vs. 60.9 years, p = 0.05), had higher level of education (p = 0.008), had higher income (p = 0.008), were less likely to seek physician consultation on CAM use (p = 0.002), and had a more advanced stage of tumor (p = 0.003) with more distant metastasis (p = 0.001). The most commonly used CAM was herbal medicine (n = 89, 67.9%). CAM users had significantly lower anxiety (t = 5.21, p < 0.001) and depression (t = 4.90, p < 0.001) than non-CAM users. When the effects of CAM use were tested on anxiety, depression, and QOL, controlling for covariates, CAM use was significantly associated with 8.7% and 8.8% of variance in decreasing anxiety and depression, but there was no unique association of CAM use with variance in QOL.Conclusions: CAM use is prevalent and younger age, higher education levels, higher income, less physician consultation, and higher cancer stage are significant correlates to CAM use. Controlling for covariates (e.g., gender, BMI), CAM use is significantly associated with lower anxiety and depression compared with those of non-CAM users.

Coping behavior in multiple sclerosis—complementary and alternative medicine: A cross‐sectional study

“…In our study, CAM users had higher depression scores than nonusers. Research in the general population indicates that CAM users are more often suffering from depression than nonusers . The high rate of comorbidity of depression and anxiety disorders among MS patients could be one cause for the frequent use of CAM in MS.…”

Complementary and alternative medicine use in coronary heart disease patients: a cross-sectional study from Palestine

“…The frequency of CAM usage was reported per week. Additionally, our study focused on herbal medicine due to a high incidence of reported usage among the different populations [ 13 , 61 – 63 ]. In the fourth section, respondents were asked to provide reasons for using CAM in self-therapy practices using closed-ended questions.…”

An assessment of the use of complementary and alternative medicine by Korean people using an adapted version of the standardized international questionnaire (I-CAM-QK): a cross-sectional study of an internet survey

“…The reports on the utilization of CAM in South Korea (hereafter Korea) through 2011 have been reviewed by Kim SG et al [ 1 ]. There have also been several other reports since 2011 [ 2 – 11 ]. However, most studies either report on the utilization of CAM in patients with specific diseases (e.g., cancer) or provide an indirect report.…”