Abstract
Background To determine the factors influencing the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in gynecologic cancer patients and the prevalence and pattern of CAM use. Methods This was a cross-sectional study of 370 gynecologic cancer patients conducted at the outpatient clinic, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. After obtaining informed consent, participants were asked to complete a standardized questionnaire including sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, detail of CAM use, attitude of CAM use, and quality of life using EORTC-QLQ-C30. Results The prevalence of CAM use was 25.13%. The most common type was herbal medicine (55.90%). The participants who resided or had a birthplace in rural areas presented with a higher proportion of CAM use than those in urban areas (P=0.470 and P=0.004, respectively). Participants who received multiple modalities of cancer treatment reported a significantly higher proportion of CAM use (P=0.024). Most CAM users agreed that the CAM could be used in combination with standard treatment, and some rather disagreed that CAM could interrupt the treatment effect of the conventional treatment. CAM users had significantly higher role functioning in quality-of-life scores. Conclusion Factors influencing CAM use in gynecologic cancer patients were rural area birthplace or residency, receiving multiple modalities of cancer treatment, having positive attitude toward CAM use. CAM users had better performance in role functioning in the quality-of-life score. Therefore, gynecologic oncologists should pay attention to these factors in order to communicate with gynecologic cancer patients about CAM use.
Highlights
Cancer is a global leading cause of morbidity and mortality
Despite the standard treatments developed for a better outcome, cancer patients still experience side effects from these treatments [1, 2]. erefore, there have been some cancer patients who decided to choose the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in replacement or combination with the conventional treatment
Most of the patients were diagnosed with cancer in early stage (56.8%). e common combination treatment was between surgery and chemotherapy (36.8%)
Summary
Cancer is a global leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Despite the standard treatments developed for a better outcome, cancer patients still experience side effects from these treatments [1, 2]. erefore, there have been some cancer patients who decided to choose the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in replacement or combination with the conventional treatment. Erefore, there have been some cancer patients who decided to choose the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in replacement or combination with the conventional treatment. Horneber and colleagues studied the use of CAM in 18 Western countries and summarized that the prevalence of CAM use increased from 25 to 49% during 1970 and 2000. Mao and colleagues did a survey including 23,393 participants, of which 66.5% of the cancer patients were treated with CAM. To determine the factors influencing the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in gynecologic cancer patients and the prevalence and pattern of CAM use. Participants who received multiple modalities of cancer treatment reported a significantly higher proportion of CAM use (P 0.024). Factors influencing CAM use in gynecologic cancer patients were rural area birthplace or residency, receiving multiple modalities of cancer treatment, having positive attitude toward CAM use. CAM users had better performance in role functioning in the quality-of-life score. erefore, gynecologic oncologists should pay attention to these factors in order to communicate with gynecologic cancer patients about CAM use
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