The use of complementary and alternative medicine among cancer patients

Abstract

RESEARCH LETTER The use of CAM among cancer patients 83 Statistical analysis The analysis was carried out using the IBM SPSS Statistics 26 program (IBM Co., Armonk, New York, United States). The significance level was set at a P value of 0.05. The statistic values for the χ 2 test for data independence were calculated. The Cramer V coefficient was calculated to assess the strength of association. In order to detail the occurring relationships, the z test was used to compare the structure indices (percentage value). Bonferroni correction was applied. Results Characteristics of the surveyed group A total of 280 women (97.9%) and 6 men (2.1%) participated in the survey. The survey group mainly included young people, up to 50 years old (194 [67.9%]), followed by persons aged 51 to 65 years (81 [28.3%]). There were significantly fewer elderly people aged 66 to 75 years (9 [3.1%]) and older than 75 years (2 [0.7%]). The survey was mostly completed by patients with breast cancer (274 [95.8%]). Almost half of the patients received cancer therapy for less than a year (136 [47.6%]), and one -third for 2 to 3 years (95 [33.2%]). In the remaining participants, the treatment lasted at least 4 years (55 [19.2%]). The survey was mostly completed by patients with cancer in early stages, that is, without distant metastases: 76 (26.6%) in stage I, 116 (40.6%) in stage II, and 74 (25.9%) in stage III. Only 20 people (7%) had cancer in the stage of dissemination (stage IV). The vast majority of respondents underwent surgical treatment (234 [81.8%]). A total of 212 underwent chemotherapy (74.1%), 192 hormone therapy (67.1%), 173 radiotherapy (60.5%), and 20 immunotherapy (7%). Main analysis More than two -thirds of respondents (196 [68.5%]) were able to define an

Experience with and perceptions of non-prescription anthelmintics for cancer treatments among cancer patients in South Korea: A cross-sectional survey

“…Most patients (96.5%) failed to inform their clinicians about the use of anthelmintics for cancer treatment. This result was consistent with that of previous studies [ 13 , 14 ], which showed that a substantial proportion of patients refused to consult their clinicians about alternative therapies. Moreover, patients (3.5%) who informed their clinicians about the therapy reported that they did not receive their support.…”

Attitudes of Lung Cancer Patients and Their Families to Complementary and Alternative Medicine Therapies and Frequency of Use: A Descriptive Study

“…In the liter- ature, this result found consistent with studies in which city life increased the frequency of CAM preference, but inconsistent with studies reporting it decreased. 30,31 In this study, when the histopathological tumor types and CAM preference statuses of the patients were examined, it was found that patients with SCLC used CAM at a higher rate (p=0.046). This result was not compatible with the study which reported that tumor type had no effect on the frequency of CAM use.…”

“…27 In this study, it was found that patients frequently preferred herbal products, which was consistent with the literature data. 30 With the thought that organic products are harmless and the desire to find healing, there may be a high interest in such CAM methods. At the same time, easy access to such products by patients may increase the frequency of preference for herbal alternative supplements.…”

Repurposing of Benzimidazole Anthelmintic Drugs as Cancer Therapeutics

“…According to several cross-sectional surveys, more than one-third of cancer patients in Japan, Poland, and Wales receive unconventional therapies to support their cancer treatments or replace conventional therapies, [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. This may be explained as follows.…”