Abstract
BackgroundThis article reports a survey conducted in Hong Kong on the cancer patients' attitudes towards Chinese medicine treatment.MethodsCancer patients from three Chinese medicine clinics and one oncology clinic were interviewed with a structured questionnaire.ResultsOf a total of 786 participants included in the study, 42.9% used Western medicine only; 57.1% used at least one form of Chinese medicine; 5 participants used Chinese medicine only; and 56.5% used Chinese medicine before/during/after Western medicine treatment. Commonly used Western medicine and Chinese medicine treatments included chemotherapy (63.7%), radiotherapy (62.0%), surgery (57.6%), Chinese herbal medicine (53.9%) and Chinese dietary therapy (9.5%). Participants receiving chemotherapy used Chinese medicine (63.3%) more than those receiving any other Western medicine treatments. Spearman correlation coefficients showed that the selection of Chinese medicine was associated with the cancer type (rs = -1.36; P < 0.001), stage (rs = 0.178; P < 0.001), duration (rs = -0.074; P = 0.037), whether receiving chemotherapy (rs = 0.165; P < 0.001) and palliative therapy (rs = 0.087; P = 0.015). Nearly two-thirds of the participants (N = 274) did not tell their physicians about using Chinese medicine. Over two-thirds of all participants (68.2%) believed that integrated Chinese and Western medicine was effective.ConclusionChinese medicine is commonly used among Hong Kong cancer patients. The interviewed cancer patients in Hong Kong considered integrative Chinese and Western medicine is an effective cancer treatment.
Highlights
This article reports a survey conducted in Hong Kong on the cancer patients' attitudes towards Chinese medicine treatment
In Western medicine, cancer is perceived as uncontrolled growth of malignant cells which may be treated by surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy [11]
Compared with Western medicine users, Chinese medicine users were better educated among whom Stage III or IV lung cancer, breast cancer and nasopharyngeal cancer and cancers which had been diagnosed within the last 36 months (P < 0.05)
Summary
This article reports a survey conducted in Hong Kong on the cancer patients' attitudes towards Chinese medicine treatment. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy remained to be conventional cancer treatments, 80% of the cancer patients around the world consult complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for more treatment options [2,3,4,5]. In Western medicine, cancer is perceived as uncontrolled growth of malignant cells which may be treated by surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy [11]. According to Chinese medicine theory, cancer is the manifestation of a qi disturbance which may be treated by mobilizing qi. Study results support the use of Chinese medicine to treat liver cancer and leukaemia [12,13], and recent meta-analyses demonstrated that Chinese medicine improved tumor response to chemotherapy as well as patient's survival rates [14,15]. Acupuncture relieves pain and acute vomiting during conventional cancer treatment [15,17]
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