Yale Bulletin and Calendar

August 23-30, 1999

Volume 28, Number 1

'Alternative' therapies not favored over
conventional medical care, says survey

In the largest survey ever to measure patient visits for alternative therapies, a Yale study has found that contrary to popular perception, patients generally report using alternative therapies to augment, rather than replace, their medical care.

The study, published in the Aug. 18 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, used a sample size four times larger than any previous survey of unconventional therapies in the United States. According to the study's principal investigator, Dr. Benjamin G. Druss, assistant professor of public health and psychiatry, the results indicate that only 1.8 percent of the population made visits for alternative therapies in the absence of visits for conventional medical care.

"These results show that alternative or unconventional medicine isn't really an alternative at all, but a complement to traditional medical practices," says Druss. "Use of unconventional therapies was consistently associated with an increased likelihood and number of physician visits."

As interest has soared in unconventional therapies such as chiropractic, herbal, acupuncture and hypnosis, there is an increasing need to examine this issue from both a clinical and health policy perspective, contend the study's authors.

Druss and his colleague, Dr. Robert A. Rosenheck, professor of psychiatry and clinical professor of epidemiology and public health, used the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) to conduct their research. Overall, 24,676 individuals responded to the core MEPS survey with a response rate of 77.7 percent.

Among other things, respondents were asked how often they visited practitioners for unconventional therapies and conventional medical services -- including the number of inpatient, outpatient and emergency department visits and the use of preventive medical services such as blood pressure and cholesterol screenings, breast examinations, mammography, influenza vaccinations and prostate examinations.

The researchers discovered that the use of unconventional therapies was substantially lower than has been reported in previous national surveys, but was associated with increased use of physician services. During 1996, an estimated 6.5 percent of the U.S. population had visits for both unconventional and conventional medical care; 1.8 percent used only unconventional services; 59.5 percent used only conventional care; and 32.2 percent used neither.

According to Druss, only 19.7 percent of those patients who had both types of visits told their physicians about their unconventional medical care.

"Physicians need to be aware that it is very likely that their patients are receiving unconventional medical care," says Druss, whose study was funded by a National Institute of Mental Health Grant. "Our findings reinforce the need for physicians to ask their patients about unconventional medical care so that these treatments are not at odds with conventional treatments."

-- By Karen Peart

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