Use of complementary and alternative medicine by cancer patients is not associated with perceived distress or poor compliance with standard treatment but with active coping behavior: a survey.

BACKGROUND Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is often used by cancer patients. Data on characteristics of users, concomitant psychologic disturbance, and compliance with standard treatment continue to be controversial. Use of and interest in CAM and their correlation with psychologic disturbance, ways of coping with illness, and compliance with standard treatment were examined in this study. METHODS The authors conducted a survey in a consecutive sample of 205 cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy, using a structured questionnaire to record use of and interest in CAM, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Hornheide Questionnaire to assess patient distress and social support, and the Freiburg Questionnaire of Coping with Illness. RESULTS Of the 172 participants, 24.4% (response rate, 83.9%) reported use of CAM, and 31.4% reported not having used but being interested in such methods. Logistic regression analysis including clinical, demographic, and psychologic characteristics as independent variables yielded 3 predictors of use of or interest in CAM: younger age (P = 0.004; odds ratio (OR), 0.96), progressive cancer (P = 0.064; OR, 1.47), and active coping behavior (P = 0.016; OR, 1.65). Patients interested in or using CAM did not show more psychologic disturbance, poorer social support, or less trust in medicine or compliance with radiotherapy than subjects without such interest. CONCLUSIONS Use of CAM by cancer patients is not associated with perceived distress or poor compliance with medical treatment but with active coping behavior. Patients seem to consider CAM as supplementary to standard medical methods and one way of avoiding passivity and of coping with feelings of hopelessness. Cancer 2000;89:873–80. © 2000 American Cancer Society.