NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -
In addition to conventional
treatments aimed at improving survival, most cancer patients
use “complementary methods” (CMs) to relieve symptoms and side
effects and increase overall wellness, according to findings
from a large study.

“We receive thousands of phone calls each year about CMs at
the American Cancer Society (ACS) national cancer information
center, and our web pages on CM are among the most popular on
our website,” lead author Dr. Ted Gansler told Reuters Health.

“The very large number of randomly chosen volunteers in the
ACS Studies of Cancer Survivors and the availability of
personal, medical, and psychological information provided an
opportunity to study this topic in very precise detail and in
some new ways,” he added.

The study by the Atlanta-based research team included 4139
adults diagnosed with one of 10 common cancers who were
surveyed 10 to 24 months after diagnosis. The results are
reported in the medical journal Cancer.

Of 19 CMs included in the survey, the most frequently cited
was prayer/spiritual practice, reported by 61 percent of
respondents. Use of relaxation, faith/spiritual healing, and
nutritional supplements/vitamins were each reported by more
than 40 percent. Between 10 and 15 percent were involved in
meditation, religious counseling, massage, and support groups.

Female gender, younger age, white race, higher income, and
educational achievement were all predictive of using CMs.
However, African Americans had a greater tendency to use
“mind-body methods,” including spiritual practices.

“One result we find especially interesting is the
substantial differences in use of CMs by gender and type of
cancer,” Gansler said. The gender gap was particularly wide for
energy medicine (tai chi and yoga) and for massage, while CMs
in general were much more popular among breast and ovarian
cancer survivors than among people with other cancers.

“Although complementary care providers at major cancer
centers have conducted research on quality-of-life outcomes,
I'd like to see that even more,” the researcher continued.

“Learning more about which CMs help cancer survivors with
pain, fatigue, anxiety, depression, overall psychological
adjustment, and overall physical functioning is very feasible,”
Gansler noted. “That information could increase attention and
resources for providing CMs that are helpful and reducing the
time and money spent on ones that are not.”

For example, “recent studies suggest that acupuncture helps
relieve some symptoms of cancer and some side effects of
treatment, but it was used by only 1.2 percent of participants
in our study.”

“On the other hand, vitamins seem to be very popular,”
Gansler said. “Nonetheless, with the exception of people with
clinically diagnosed deficiencies or those unable to eat
enough, there is little evidence that high-dose vitamins help
people with cancer and there is increasing evidence that high
doses of some vitamins can be harmful.”

SOURCE: Cancer, September 1, 2008.