“ Use of Alternative Medicine for Cancer and Its Impact on Survival ”

A blog reader, thank you!, told me about a study (same title as my post) that was recently published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute and that has been picked up by a whole slew of online news sources and blogs, some with ominous titles such as “Alternative medicine kills cancer patients” or “Alternative medicine can kill you.” So what’s all the fuss about? Should we be concerned? Here’s the gist: a team of four Yale researchers carried out an observational case control study, comparing 280 cancer patients who had chosen to use ONLY alternative therapies to 560 patients who had instead received conventional cancer treatments. They noted how many patients lived for at least five years and found that those in the AM group had a greater risk (about 50%) of dying compared to those in the CCT group. The researchers therefore concluded that using alternative instead of conventional medicine to treat “nonmetastatic,” “curable” cancers, including breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer, increases a patient’s likelihood of dying. Here’s the link to the abstract: http://goo.gl/Gtx5Gp Some day, I’d like to read the full study, but for this post, I relied on online news sources, reliable ones, which I normally would prefer not to do…but I don’t have much time right now, and I have lots to say, so here is one of the sources I used, a Yale source: http://goo.gl/GXc5jx As you may have gathered, I have a few ...
Source: Margaret's Corner - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Blogroll Use of Alternative Medicine for Cancer and Its Impact on Survival cancer deaths Skyler Johnson Source Type: blogs