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Use of complementary/integrative methods: cancer survivors’ misconceptions about recurrence prevention

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Abstract

Purpose

Many cancer survivors use complementary and alternative health methods (CAM). Because we are unaware of high-level evidence supporting CAM for preventing cancer recurrence, we studied post-treatment survivors who use CAM to assess (1) the percentage who included preventing recurrence as a motive for using CAM, (2) characteristics of survivors who use CAM intended to prevent recurrence, and (3) CAM domains associated with use for recurrence prevention.

Methods

We studied participants in the American Cancer Society’s Study of Cancer Survivors-I (nationwide study of adult survivors) who used CAM (excluding osteopathy, yoga, tai chi, or qi gong users, as well as anyone whose only reported CAM was prayer/meditation). Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine associations of independent variables with CAM use for recurrence prevention.

Results

Among 1220 survivors using CAM, 14.8% reported recurrence prevention as a reason for CAM use (although only 0.4% indicated this was their only reason). The following were independently associated with odds of CAM use to prevent recurrence: not being married/in a marriage-like relationship (OR = 1.53, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.05–2.23), using mind–body (OR = 1.65, 95% CI 1.08–2.51) or biologically based (OR = 4.11, 95% CI 1.96–8.59) CAM and clinically relevant fear of recurrence (OR = 1.96, 95% CI 1.38–2.78).

Conclusions

Approximately 1/7 of survivors who use CAM have unrealistic expectations about CAM reducing recurrence risk. This expectation is strongly associated with the use of biologically based CAM.

Implications for Cancer Survivors

Patient education should support informed decisions and realistic expectations regarding any complementary/integrative or mainstream/conventional clinical intervention.

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Funding

This work is funded by the Intramural Research Department of the American Cancer Society.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Intramural Research, American Cancer Society, 250 Williams Street, Atlanta, GA, 30303-1002, USA

    Ted Gansler

  2. Behavioral and Epidemiology Research Group, American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Sara Strollo, Elizabeth Fallon & Corinne Leach

Authors
  1. Ted Gansler
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  2. Sara Strollo
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  3. Elizabeth Fallon
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  4. Corinne Leach
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Contributions

Ted Gansler: conceptualization, methodology, writing—original draft, writing—review, and editing

Sara Strollo: conceptualization, formal analysis, methodology, writing—original draft, writing—review, and editing

Elizabeth Fallon: conceptualization, formal analysis, methodology, writing—original draft, writing—review, and editing

Corinne Leach: conceptualization, methodology, supervision, writing—review, and editing

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ted Gansler.

Ethics declarations

Institutional review board approval was obtained from Emory University and from each state cancer registry.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Gansler, T., Strollo, S., Fallon, E. et al. Use of complementary/integrative methods: cancer survivors’ misconceptions about recurrence prevention. J Cancer Surviv 13, 418–428 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-019-00762-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-019-00762-0

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