Kathrin Wode|Roger Henriksson|Lena Sharp|Anna Stoltenberg|Johanna Hök Nordberg
Cancer patients’ use of complementary and alternative medicine in Sweden: a cross-sectional study
Region Västra Götaland|Region Västra Götaland|Region Västra Götaland|Region Västra Götaland|Region Västra Götaland
access advice complementary alternative medicine cam uncommon within swedish conventional cancer care little known cancer patients use cam aim crosssectional study explore swedish cancer patients patterns cam use experiences preferencesquestionnaires distributed consecutively 1297 cancer patients university hospitals outpatient oncology units response rate 58 n 755 descriptive statistics used analyze survey data logistic regression model used investigate association cam use gender age level education openended responses analyzed using qualitative content analysislifetime cam use reported 34 n 256 26 n 198 used cam cancer diagnosis female younger higher education predicted cam use commonly used methods natural products including vitamins minerals relaxation main reasons cam use improvement physical general emotional wellbeing increasing bodys ability fight cancer satisfaction cam usage generally high reported adverse effects mild 54 users spent 50 euro month cam one third discussed cam use cancer care providers half participants thought cancer care providers able discuss 58 consider 54 use cam modalities cancer caredespite limited access advice within conventional cancer care one fourth swedish cancer patients use cam insufficient patientprovider dialogue diverges patients wish professional guidance decisions integration cam modalities conventional cancer care concurrent multimodal cam use implies challenges possibilities cancer care need considered