Cancer patients who use alternative medicine have higher risk of death because they are more likely to skip other parts of their treatment
- There has been a boom in patients turning to homeopathy, herbs, diet changes and cannabis to treat their diseases
- Yale’s study is the first to show that patients who do so are more likely to forego at least one component of their conventional treatment
- As a result, those who used alternative medicines had a higher risk of death
Cancer patients who use alternative medicine have a higher risk of dying because they are more likely to forego conventional treatment, a new study warns.
In recent years there has been a boom in the rate of patients turning to ‘complementary medicine’ such as homeopathy, cannabis, herbs, and diet changes to treat their diseases.
However, research by Yale University shows most people with treatable cancers who try these alternative methods tend to do forego at least one component of the conventional treatment their doctor recommends – rather than using it as a complement.
Unequivocally, those who did drop part or all of their treatment in favor of complementary medicine had a higher risk of death.
Experts warn the findings should be a red flag to doctors and patients as the increasingly powerful – but under-researched – industries of supplements, vitamins and cannabis gain traction.
The use of CBD oil (file image pictured) has become ubiquitous in recent years since more than half of the US has legalized medical marijuana. Vitamins, probiotics, and plant-based diets have also taken off as popular approaches to control various types of cancers
‘Past research into why patients use non-medical complementary treatments has shown the majority of cancer patients who use complementary medicines believe their use will result in improved survival,’ said the study’s senior author, James Yu, MD, associate professor of therapeutic radiology at Yale Cancer Center.
‘We became interested in this topic after we reviewed the literature, and found that there was scant evidence to support this belief.’
The study was an attempt to inject some clarity into the murky field of research on complementary medicines, which fall outside the remit of medicines prescribed by a qualified doctor.
The use of CBD oil, for example, has become ubiquitous in recent years, particularly since more than half of the US has legalized medical marijuana. Vitamins, probiotics, and plant-based diets have also taken off as popular approaches to control various types of cancers.
However, few studies have looked at how patients use these medicines – whether as an extra boost or a replacement – and whether it proves effective for them.
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Dr Yu’s team looked at 10 years of data on 1,290 patients in the National Cancer Database (which accounts for 70 percent of US cancers) who had breast, prostate, lung, or colorectal cancer.
Among them, they found that 258 had used complementary medicine, compared to 1,032 who had not, between 2003 and 2014.
They found that even those who’d had one form of conventional cancer treatment had a higher risk of death if they’d used complementary medicine too.
The reason for that, they said, appeared to be that those patients were more likely to reject follow-up conventional treatment.
‘The fact that complementary medicine use is associated with higher refusal of proven cancer treatments as well as increased risk of death should give providers and patients pause,’ said lead author Skyler Johnson, MD, chief resident in radiation oncology at Yale School of Medicine.
‘Unfortunately, there is a great deal of confusion about the role of complementary therapies.
‘Although they may be used to support patients experiencing symptoms from cancer treatment, it looks as though they are either being marketed or understood to be effective cancer treatments.’
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