08/21/2001 

Alternative Medicine Goes Mainstream in US

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Living/reuters20010821_193.html

By Suzanne Rostler

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Alternative medicine, once relegated to 
the 
fringes of Western science, is becoming an increasingly popular part 
of 
mainstream medicine in the US, a team of Harvard researchers 
concludes.

Their study investigated the use of acupuncture, herbal medicines, 
yoga, 
massage and other complementary and alternative therapies over 50 
years. 
The findings, published in the August 21st issue of the Annals of 
Internal Medicine, suggest that many Americans, regardless of 
gender, 
geography, education or ethnicity, are relying on at least one of the 
20 
different therapies studied.

"These...results should dispel any suggestion that use has increased 
for 
only singular complementary or alternative modalities or that the 
use of 
complementary and alternative medicine therapies is a passing fad 
associated with one particular generation or fringe segment of the 
population," according to Dr. Ronald C. Kessler and associates from 
Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.

In the study, nearly 68% of adults reported having used at least one 
therapy sometime in their lives. Younger people were more likely to 
try 
alternative therapies. By age 33, for example, 70% of those born 
between 
1965 and 1979 had used some type of alternative medicine, 
compared with 
50% of those born between 1945 and 1964, and 30% of individuals 
born 
before 1945.

But across all age groups, the use of complementary and alternative 
therapies has increased since the 1950s, with the largest overall 
rise 
seen between the 1960s and 1970s. And among those who had tried a 
therapy, nearly 50% continued to use it up to 20 years later.

In other findings, certain therapies were more in vogue during 
different 
decades. In the 1990s, aromatherapy, herbal medicine, massage and 
yoga 
were popular forms of complementary and alternative medicine, 
while the 
1970s saw interest in biofeedback, energy healing and imagery.

According to the researchers, consumer demand for complementary 
and 
alternative therapies has prompted some insurance companies to 
cover 
certain interventions, while most US medical schools now offer 
courses on 
these therapies. Meantime, the National Institutes of Health has 
established an office of complementary and alternative medicine to 
conduct clinical trials on these therapies.

"These responses imply that complementary and alternative 
therapies are 
perceived to be a force to be reckoned with for some time to come," 
the 
study authors write.

Therefore, doctors should take the time to ask their patients if they 
are 
using any alternative therapies and to educate themselves, Kessler 
told 
Reuters Health.

"You can't make recommendations because the therapies are, by 
definition, 
unproven. But you can tell patients to avoid complementary and 
alternative therapies that are suspected to represent risks," he said.

Potential risks include harmful interactions between herbs and 
drugs. For 
the most part, however, patients may waste their time and money on 
treatments with no positive effects, he added.

The findings are based on more than 2,000 telephone interviews 
conducted 
in 1997 and 1998.

SOURCE: Annals of Internal Medicine 2001;135:262-268.
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